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I 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


V 

rippina 


£.^..  S 


Roma 


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s^"^  C     A     E    T    U     L     1 


THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE 

in  i8o  A.D. 


Zbc  xaorlb's  Classics 


XLIV 

THE  DECLINE  AND  FALL  OF 
THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE 

VOL.   II 


''-W^r 


THE  HISTORY  OF 

THE  DECLINE  &  FALL 

OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE 


BY 


EDWARD  GIBBON 


wm 


THE  HISTORY  OF 

THE  DECLINE  &'  FALL  OF 
THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE 


BY 


EDWARD    GIBBON 


VOL.   II 


HENRY    FROWDE 

OXFORD  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

LONDON,  NEW  YORK  AND  TORONTO 


Edward  Gibbon 

Born,  Putney      ....      April,  27,  1737 
Died,  St.  James's  Street,  London  .  Januarv  16, 1794 


The  first  volume  of  "  The  Decline  and  Fall  of  the 
Roman  Empire"  was  first  published  in  1776,  and  the 
last  in  1788.  In  "  The  World's  Classics"  the  work 
is  contained  in  seven  volumes.  Vol.  II  was  jmb- 
lished  in  1903,  and  reprinted  in  1905  and  1907. 


Printed  by  BALLAXirxE,  Haxson  &  Co. 
At  the  Ballantyne  Press,  Edinburgh 


*  '^•'i 


JJ  ^ 


3//  ^ 
/  9^^ 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  SECOND  VOLUME 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN'  RELIGION'^  AND  THE 
SENTIMENTS,  .IIAXXERS,  NU3IBERS  AND  CONDITION 
OF    THE    PRnilTIVE    CHRISTIANS 

PAGE 

Importance  of  the  Inquiry  ......  1 

Its  Difficulties     .         .      ' 2 

Five  Causes  of  the  Growth  of  Christianity  ...  2 

I.  The  First  Cause.     Zeal  of  the  Jews'  .         .         ,  3 
Its  gradual  increase     .......  4 

Their   Religion    better   suited   to    Defence    than   to 

Conquest       ........  5 

More  Liberal  Zeal  of  Christianity        ....  7 

Obstinacy  and  Reasons  of  the  Believing  Jews    .         .  8 

The  Nazarene  Church  of  Jerusalem    ....  9 

The  Ebionites 11 

The  Gnostics 12 

Their  Sects,  Progress,  and  Influence  .         .         .         .  1-i 

The  Daemons  considered  as  the  Gods  of  Antiquity     .  16 

Abhorrence  of  the  Christians  for  Idolatry  ...  17 

Ceremonies 18 

Arts 19 

Festivals 19 

Zeal  for  Christianity   .......  "0 

II.  The  Second  Cause.     The  Doctrine  of  the  Im- 
mortahty  of  the  Soul  among  the  Philosopher^      21-22 

Among  the  Pagans  of  Greece  and  Rome  .         .       23 

Among  the  Barbarians  and  the  Jews       .         .       24 

Among  the  Christians       .         .         .         .         .25 

Approaching  End  of  the  World  .....       25 

Doctrine  of  the  Millennium         ....  26-27 

Conflagration  of  Rome  and  of  the  World   ...       28 


i20Mao 


vi  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The  Pagans  devoted  to  Eternal  Punishment       .         .  29 

Were  often  converted  by  their  Fears          ...  31 

III.  The  Third  Cause.     iVIiraculous  powers  of  the 
Primitive  Church.         ......  31 

Their  Truth  contested .33 

Our  perplexity  in  defining  the  miraculous  Period       .  33 

Use  of  the  Primitive  Miracles 35 

IV.  The    Fourth    Cause.     Virtues    of    the    first 
Christians     ........  36 

Effects  of  their  Repentance 36 

Care  of  their  Reputation     ......  37 

Morality  of  the  Fathers 38 

Principles  of  Human  Nature       .....  39 

The    Primitive    Christians    condemn    Pleasure    and 

Luxury  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .40 

Their  Sentiments  concerning  Marriage  and  Chastity  41 
Their  Aversion  to  the  Business  of  War  and  Govern- 
ment   .........  43 

V.  The  Fifth  Cause.     The  Christians  active  in  the 
Government  of  the  Church  .....  44 

Its  Primitive  Freedom  and  Equality  ....  46 
Institution  of  Bishops  as  Presidents  of  the  College  of 

Presbyters    ........  46 

Provincial  Councils 49 

Union  of  the  Church  ......  49 

Progress  of  Episcopal  Authority          ....  50 

Pre-eminence  of  the  Metropolian  Churches         .         .  51 

Ambition  of  the  Roman  Pontiff  .....  52 

Laity  and  Clergy         .......  53 

Oblations  and  Revenue  of  the  Church         .                  .  54 

Distribution  of  the  Revenue        .....  56 

Excommunication        .......  58 

Public  Penance  ........  59 

Thp  Dignity  of  Episcopal  Government        ...  60 

Recapitulation  of  the  five  Causes        ....  61 

Weakness  of  Polytheism     ......  62 

The  Scepticism  of  the  Pagan  World  proved  favom-- 

able  to  the  new  Religion      .....  63 

And  the  Peace  and  Union  of  the  Roman  Empire        .  64 

Historical  View  of  the  Progress  of  Christianitv           .  65 

In  the  East \         .65 

The  Church  of  Antioch 67 

In  Egypt 68 

In  Rome 69 

In  Africa  and  the  Western  Provinces          ...  70 

Beyond  the  Limits  of  the  Roman  Empire  ...  73 

General  Proportion  of  Christians  and  Pagans     ,         .  74 


CONTENTS  vii 

PAGE 

TVTiether  the  first  Christians  •were  mean  and  ignorant  75 

Some  Exceptions  with  regard  to  Learning           .         .  75 

Some  Exceptions  with  regard  to  Rank  and  Fortune  76 
Christianity  most  favourably  received  by  the  Poor 

and  Simple 77 

Eejected   by    some    eminent    Men   of   the  first   and 

second  Centuries  .......  77 

Their  Xeglect  of  Prophecy 78 

Their  Xeglect  of  Miracles  ......  79 

General    Silence    concerning    the   Darkness   of    the 

Passion         ........  79 


CHAPTER   XVI 

THE  CONDUCT  OF  THE  ROMAN  GOVERXMEXT  TOWARDS 
THE  CHRISTIANS^  FROM  THE  REIGX  OF  NERO  TO 
THAT    OF    CONSTANTINE 

Christianity  persecuted  by  the  Pvoman  Emperors       .  81 
Inquiry  into  their  ^lotives           .         .         .          .         .82 

Rebellious  Spirit  of  the  Jews      .....  83 

Toleration  of  the  Jewish  Religion       .         .         "         .  84 
The  Jews  were  a  People  which  followed,  the  Christians 
a   Sect   which    deserted,   the  Religion  of   their 

Fathers         .         .         .    ' 86 

Christianity  acciised   of  Atheism,  and  mistaken  by 

the  People  and  Philosophers        ....  87 

The   Union  and   Assemblies  of  the  Christians  con- 
sidered as  a  dangerous  Conspiracy       ...  89 
Their  Manners  calumniated         .....  90 

Their  Imprudent  Defence  ......  91 

Idea  of  the  Conduct  of  the  Emperors  towards  the 

Chrisrtians     ........  93 

They  neglected  the  Christians  as  a  Sect  of  Jews         .  94 
The  Fire  of  Rome  under  the  Reign  of  Xero       .         .  96 
Cruel  Punishment  of  the  Christians  as  the  Incen- 
diaries of  the  City 97 

Remarks  on  the  Passage  of  Tacitus  relative  to  the  ' 

Persecution  of  the  Christians  by  Xero          .         .  99 

Oppression  of  the  Jews  and  Christians  by  Domitian  103 

Execution  of  Clemens  the  Consul       .        '.         .         .  105 

Ignorance  of  Pliny  concerning  the  Christians     .         .  106 
Trajan  and  his  Successors  establish  a  legal  Mode  of 

proceeding  against  them      .         ,         .         .         .  107 
VOL.  II.                                                     a  2 


CONTENTS 


A.D.  PAGE 

Popular  Clamours 108 

Trials  of  the  Christians  .  .  .  .  '  .  .  110 
Humanity  of  the  Roman  Magistrates  .         .         .     Ill 

Inconsiderable  NumVjer  of  Martyrs  ....  112 
Example  of  Cyprian,  Bishop  of  Carthage  .  .  .  114 
His  Danger  and  Flight        ......     114 

257  His  Banishment  .  ....     115 

His  Condemnation  ......     116 

His  Martyrdom  .         .         .         .         ,         .         .         .117 

Various  Incitements  to  Martyrdom     .         .         .         .     118 

Ardour  of  the  first  Christians 120 

Gradual  Relaxation 122 

Three  Methods  of  escaping  Martyrdom  .  .  .  122 
Alternatives  of  Severity  and  Toleration      .         .         .     124 

The  Ten  Persecutions 124 

Supposed  Edicts  of  Tiberius  and  Marcus  Antoninus     125 

180  State  of  the  Christians  in  the  Reigns  of  Commodus 
and  Severus 

211-249  Of  the  Successors  of  Severus 
Of  Maximin,  Philip,  and  Decius 

253-260  Of  Valerian,  Gallienus,  and  his  Successors  . 

260  Paul  of  Samosata,  his  IManners  .... 

270  He  is  degraded  from  the  See  of  Antioch     . 

274  The  Sentence  is  executed  by  Am'elian 

284-303  Peace    and    Prosperity   of    the    Church    under 
Diocletian     .         .         .         .         .  '       . 

Progress  of  Zeal  and  Superstition  among  the  Pagan 

Maximian    and    Galerius    punish    a    few    Christian 

Soldiers        ........ 

,'   Galerius  prevails  on  Diocletian  to  begin  a  general 

Persecution .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .     139 

303  Demolition  of  the  Church  of  Nicomedia     .         .         .     140 
The  first  Edict  against  the  Christians  .         .         .     141 

Zeal  and  Punishment  of  a  Chi'istian  ....  142 
Fire  of  the   Palace  of  Nicomedia  imputed  to  the 

Christians     ........     143 

Execution  of  the  first  Edict 144 

Demolition  of  the  Churches  .....  145 
Subsequent  Edicts 146 

303-311  General  Idea  of  the  Persecution  .         .         .         .     147 

In  the  Western  Pro-\ances,   under  Constantius  and 
Constantine.         ....... 

In  Italy  and  Africa,  under  Maximian  and  Severus     . 
And  under  Maxentius  ...... 

In    Illyricum   and    the   East,    under    Galerius    and 
Maximin       ........ 

311  Galerius  publishes  an  Edict  of  Toleration  . 


126 
127 
129 
130 
131 
132 
133 


134 
135 


137 


147 
149 
149 

151 
152 


CONTENTS  ix 

A.D.  PAGE 

Peace  of  the  Church 152 

Maximin  prepares  to  renew  the  Persecution       .         .  153 

313  End  of  the  Persecutions 154 

Probable  Account  of  the  Sufferings  of  the  Martyrs 

and  Confessors     .......  155 

Number  of  ^lartyrs     .......  157 

Conclusion ...  159 


CHAFfER  XVII 

FOUNDATIOX  OF  CONSTANTIXOPLE — POLITICAL,  SYSTEM  OF 
CONSTAXTINEj  AND  HIS  SUCCESSORS — ailLITARY  DIS- 
CIPLINE  THE    PALACE — THE    FINANCES 

324  Design  of  a  new  Capital      ......  161 

Situation  of  Byzantium       .         .         .         .         .         .  162 

Description  of  Constantinople 103 

The  Bosphorus 163 

The  Port  of  Constantinople         .....  165 

The  Propontis .  166 

The  Hellespont 166 

Advantages  of  Constantinople 168 

Foundation  of  the  Citv       ......  169 

Its  Extent  ..." 170 

Progress  of  the  Work          ......  172 

Edifices 174 

Population 17G 

Pri\nleges    .........  17S 

330  or  334  Dedication 179 

300-500  Form  of  Government  in  the  Ptoraan  Empire         .  180 

Hierachy  of  the  State 181 

Three  Ptanks  of  Honour 183 

Fo;xr  Divisions  of  Office 183 

I.  The  Consuls 184 

The  Patricians 186 

II.  The  Prtetorian  Prfefects 188 

The  Prsefects  of  Piome  and  Constantinople      .  190 

The  Proconsuls,  Vice-prsefects,  &c.           .          .  192 

The  Governors  of  the  Pro\inces       .         .         .  193 

The  Profession  of  the  Law       ....  196 

III.  The  :\liHtary  Officers 198 

Distinction  of  the  Troops          ....  200 

Keduction  of  the  Legions         ....  202 

Difficulty  of  Le\'ies 203 

Increase  of  Barbarian  Auxiliaries    .         .         .  205 


X  CONTENTS 

A.D.  PAGE 

IV.  Seven  Ministers  of  the  Palace      ....  207 

1.  The  Chamberlain 207 

2.  The  Master  of  the  Offices         .        .         .         .208 

3.  The  Qusestor 209 

4.  The  Public  Treasurer 210 

Kationales        .......  211 

5.  The  Private  Treasurer 211 

6.  The  Counts  of  the  Domestics  ....  213 

7.  Protectores 213 

Agents,  or  Official  Spies     ......  213 

Use  of  Torture 214 

Finances     .........  216 

The  General  Tribute,  or  Indiction      ....  217 

Assessed  in  the  Form  of  a  Capitation          .         .         .  220 

Capitation  on  Trade  and  Industry      ....  225 

Free  Gifts 226 

Conclusion .         .227 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

CHARACTER    OF    CONSTANTINE — GOTHIC    WAR DEATH     OP 

CONSTANTINE DIVISION   OP    THE   EMPIRE    AMONG    HIS 

THREE      SONS PERSIAN      WAR TRAGIC      DEATH      OP 

CONSTANTINE       THE       YOUNGER,       AND       CONSTANS 

USURPATION     of    MAGNENTIUS — CIVIL   WAR VICTORY 

OP    CONSTANTIUS 

Character  of  Constantine 229 

His  Virtues 229 

His  Vices 231 

His  Family 233 

Virtues  of  Crispus       .......  234 

324  Jealousy  of  Constantine      .         .         .         .         .         .  235 

325  Edict  of  Constantine .235 

326  Disgrace  and  Death  of  Crispus 236 

The  Empress  Fausta 237 

The  Sons  and  Nephews  of  Constantine       .         .         .  240 

Their  Education 241 

Manners  of  the  Sarmatians 243 

Their  Settlement  near  the  Danube     ....  244 

331  The  Gothic  War 245 

334  Expulsion  of  the  Sarmatians 248 


CONTENTS  xi 

A.D.  PAGE 

337  Death  and  Funeral  of  Constantine     ....  249 

Factions  of  the  Court          ......  250 

3Iassacre  of  the  Princes      ......  251 

337  Di^^sion  of  the  Empire        ......  253 

310  Sapor,  King  of  Persia 253 

State  of  Mesopotamia  and  Armenia    ....  255 

342  Death  of  Tiridates 256 

337-360  The  Persian  War 257 

348  [344]  Battle  of  Singara 257 

338,  346,  350  Siege  of  Nisibis 259 

340  CiWl  War,  and  Death  of  Constantine          .         .         .  261 

350  Murder  of  Constans 262 

Magnentius  and  Vetranio  assume  the  Purple     .         .  264 

Constantius  refuses  to  treat 265 

Deposes  Vetranio        ,         .         .         .         .         .         .  267 

351  Makes  War  against  Magnentius          ....  269 
Battle  of  Mursa 271 

352  Conquest  of  Italy 273 

353  Last  Defeat  and  Death  of  ^lagnentius        .         .         .  274 


CHAPTER  XIX 

CONSTANTIUS   SOLE   EMPEROR ELEVATION    AND    DEATH    OF 

GALLUS DANGER    AND    ELEVATION    OF    JULIAN SAR- 

3IATIAN    AND    PERSIAN    WARS VICTOKIES    OF    JULIAN 

IN    GAUL 

Power  of  the  Eunuchs 277 

Education  of  G-allus  and  Julian           ....  279 

351  Gallus  declared  C'gesar         ......  280 

Cruelty  and  Imprudence  of  Gallus     ....  280 

354  ^Massacre  of  the  Imperial  Ministers     ....  282 
Dangerous  Situation  of  Gallus    .....  284 

His  Disgrace  and  Death 285 

The  Danger  and  Escape  of  Julian       ....  287 

355  He  is  sent  to  Athens  .......  288 

Pv^called  to  Milan 289 

Declared  Caesar  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .291 

Fatal  End  of  Sylvanus 293 

.357  Constantius  visits  Rome      ......  294 

A  new  Obelisk     ........  295 

357,  358,  359  The  Quadian  and  Sarmatian  War        .         .  296 

358  The  Persian  Negotiation     ......  300 

359  Invasion  of  Mesopotamia  by  Sapor     ....  302 


xu 


CONTENTS 


A.D.  PAGE 

Siege  of  Amida 304 

360  Siege  of  Singara 306 

Conduct  of  the  Romans      ' 307 

Invasion  of  Gaul  by  the  Germans       ....  309 

Conduct  of  Julian 310 

356  His  first  Campaign  in  Gaul         .....  312 

357  His  second  Campaign         ......  313 

Battle  of  Strasburg 315 

358  Julian  subdues  the  Franks 317 

357,  358,  359  Makes  three  Expeditions  beyond  the  Rhine  319  • 

Restores  the  Cities  of  Gaul 321 

Civil  administration  of  Julian     .....  323 

Description  of  Paris    .......  325 


CHAPTER  XX 


THE     MOTIVES^     PROGRESS,     AND      EFFECTS     OF    THE     CON- 
VERSION     OF     CONSTANTINE LEGAL     ESTABLISHMENT 

OF    THE    CHRISTIAN,    OR    CATHOLIC    CHURCH 


306-337  Date  of  the  Conversion  of  Constantine 
His  Pagan  Superstition       .... 

306-312  He  protects  the  Christians  of  Gaul 

313  Edict  of  Milan 

Use  and  Beauty  of  the  Christian  Morality 
Theory  and  Practice  of  Passive  Obedience 
Divine  Right  of  Constantine 

324  General  Edict  of  Toleration 

Loyalty  and  Zeal  of  the  Christian  Party  . 
Expectation  and  Belief  of  a  Miracle   . 

I.  The  Labarum,  or  Standard  of  the  Cross 

II.  The  Dream  of  Constantine 
III.  Appearance  of  a  Cross  in  the  Sky 
The  Conversion  of  Constantine  might  be  sincere 
The  fourth  Eclogue  of  Virgil 
Devotion  and  Privileges  of  Constantine 
Delay  of  his  Baptism  till  the  approach  of  Death 
Propagation  of  Christianity 

312-438  Change  of  the  National  Religion 

Distinction  of  the  Spiritual  and  Temporal  Povpers 

State  of  the  Bishops  under  the  Christian  Emperors 

I.  Election  of  Bishops 

II,  Ordination  of  the  Clergy    .... 

III.  Property     ....... 


327 
330 
331 
331 
333 
334 
335 
337 
337 
339 
339 
342 
345 
347 
349 
350 
351 
353 
356 
356 
358 
359 
361 


CONTENTS  xui 

PAGE 

IV.  Ci^^l  Jurisdiction 366 

Y.  Spiritual  Censures      ......  368 

VI.  Freedom  of  Public  Preaching    ....  370 

VII.  Privilege  of  Legislative  Assemblies   .         .         ,  371 


CHAPTER  XXI 

PERSECUTION'     OF     HERESY THE      SCHISM     OF     THE     DOXA- 

TISTS THE      ARIAX      CONTROVERSY ATHAXASIUS 

DISTRACTED     STATE     OF     THE     CHURCH     AXD     EMPIRE 

UNDER      CONSTANTIXE     AND     HIS     SONS TOLERATION 

OF    PAGANISM 

312  African  Controversy 376 

Councils  of  Kome  and  of  Aries    .....  377 

315  Schism  of  the  Donatists      ......  378 

The  Trinitarian  Controversy 379 

B.C. 

360  The  System  of  Plato 380 

The  Logos 380 

300  Taught  in  the  Schools  of  Alexandria           .         .         .  381 

A.D. 

97  Revealed  by  the  Apostle  St.  John      .         .         .         .382 

The  Ebionites  and  Docetes 383 

Mysterious  Nature  of  the  Trinity       ....  384 

Zeal  of  the  Christians 385 

Authority  of  the  Church     ......  387 

Factions 388 

318  Heterodox  Opinions  of  Arius 388 

Three  Systems  of  the  Trinity 389 

I.  Arianism     ........  390 

II.  Tritheisra 390 

III.  Sabellianism 391 

325  Council  of  Nice            .......  391 

The  Homoousion         .......  392 

Arian  Creeds 394 

Arian  Sects         ........  395 

Faith  of  the  Western,  or  Latin  Church      .         .         .  398 

360  Council  of  Rimini 399 

Conduct  of  the  Emperors  in  the  Arian  Controversy   .  .399 

324  Indifference  of  Constantino         .....  400 

325  His  Zeal 400 


xiv  CONTENTS 

A.D.  PAGE 

328-337  He  persecutes  the  Arian  and  the  Orthodox  Party  401 

337-361  Constantius  favours  the  Arians    ....  403 

Arian  Councils     ........  404 

Character  and  Adventures  of  Athanasius  .         .         .  407 

330  Persecution  against  Athanasius           ....  410 

336  His  First  Exile 412 

341  His  Second  Exile 413 

349  His  Kestoration           .......  415 

351  Resentment  of  Constantius          .....  417 

353-355  Councils  of  Aries  and  Milan          ....  418 

355  Condemnation  of  Athanasius      .....  420 
Exiles          .         .         .         .         .         .        .         .         .422 

356  Third  Expulsion  of  Athanasius  from  Alexandria         .  423 
His  Behaviour 426 

356-362  His  Retreat 427 

Ai'ian  Bishops 430 

Divisions     .........  430 

I.  Rome 432 

II.  Constantinople      .......  433 

Cruelty  of  the  Arians          ......  436 

354,  &c.  The  Revolt  and  Fury  of  the  Donatist  Circum- 

cellions 438 

Their  Religious  Suicides     ......  440 

312-361  General  Character  of  the  Christian  Sects     .         .  441 
Toleration  of  Paganism  by  Constantine      .         .         .441 

By  his  Sons 443 


CHAPTER  XXII 

JULIAN  IS  DECLARED  ESIPEROR  BY  THE  LEGIONS  OF  GAUL 
HIS  MARCH  AND  SUCCESS — THE  DEATH  OF  CON- 
STANTIUS  CIVIL    AD3IINISTRATI0N    OF    JULIAN 

The  Jealousy  of  Constantius  against  Julian        .         .     447 
Fears  and  Envy  of  Constantius  ....     448 

860  The  Legions  of  Gaul  are  ordered  to  march  into  the 

East 449 

Their  Discontents        .......     451 

They  proclaim  Julian  Emperor  .....     452 

His  protestations  of  Innocence  .....     454 

His  Embassy  to  Constantius        .....     456 

360-361  His   fourth  and   fifth   Expeditions   beyond   the 

Rhine 457 

361  Fruitless  Treaty  and  Declaration  of  War  .         .         .459 


CONTENTS  XV 

A.D.  PAGE 

Julian  prepares  to  attack  Constantius         .         .          .  461 

His  march  from  the  Rhine  into  Illyricum            ,         .  463 

He  justifies  his  Cause           ......  466 

Hostile  Preparations 467 

361  Death  of  Constantius 469 

361  Julian  enters  Constantinople       .....  470 

361  Is  acknowledged  by  the  whole  Empire        .         .         .  471 

His  civil  Government  and  private  Life        .          .         .  471 

Reformation  of  the  Palace  ......  474 

Chamber  of  Justice     .......  476 

Pnnishment  of  the  Innocent  and  the  Guilty        .         .  477 

Clemency  of  Julian     .......  479 

His  Love  of  Freedom  and  the  Repubhc      .         .         .  480 

His  care  of  the  Grecian  Cities     .....  482 

•Julian,  an  Orator  and  a  Judge  .....  483 

His  Character 484 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

THE    REUGIOX    OF    JULIAN UNI\'ERSAL    TOLERATION HE 

ATTE3rPTS     TO     RESTORE     AND     REFORM     THE     PAGAN 
WORSHIP  ;     TO    REBUILD    THE    TE3IPLE    OF    JERUSALEM 

HIS    ARTFUL     PERSECUTION     OF    THE     CHRISTIANS 

MUTUAL    ZEAL    AND    INJUSTICE 

Religion  of  Julian        .......  486 

3.51  His  Education  and  Apostacy      .....  487 

He  embraces  the  Mvthology  of  Paganism  .         .         .  490 

The  Allegories     .     " 491 

Theological  System  of  Julian      .....  493 

Fanaticism  of  the  Philosophers  .....  494 

Initiation  and  Fanaticism  of  Julian    ....  493 

His  religious  Dissimulation          .....  497 

He  writes  against  Christianity    .....  499 

361  Universal  Toleration  .......  .500 

;361-363  Zeal  and  Devotion  of  .Julian  in  the  Restoration 

of  Paganism 502 

Preformation  of  Paganism    ......  504 

The  Philosophers         .......  .506 

Conversions          ........  508 

The  .Jews    .........  510 

Description  of  .Jerusalem 511 

Pilgrimages          .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  .512 

363  .Julian  attempts  to  rebuild  the  Temple       .         .  514 


xvi  CONTENTS 

A.D.  PAGE 

The  Enterprise  is  defeated 516 

Perhaps  by  a  preternatural  Event       ....  517 

Partiality  of  Julian     .         .         .         .         .         .         .  518 

He  prohibits  the  Christians  from  teaching  Schools     .  519 

Disgrace  and  Oppression  of  the  Christians  .         .  520 

They  are  condemned  to  restore  the  Pagan  Temples  .  521 

The  Temple  and  sacred  Grove  of  Daphne  .         .         .  523 

Neglect  and  Profanation  of  Daphne  ....  525 

362  Removal  of  the  dead  Bodies,  and  Conflagration  of 

the  Temple 526 

Julian  shuts  the  Cathedral  of  Antioch  .  .  .  527 
George   of    Cappadocia    oppresses    Alexandria    and 

Egypt 528 

361  He  is  massacred  by  the  People 530 

He  is  worshipped  as  a  Saint  and  Martyr    .         .         .  531 

362  Restoration  of  Athanasius 532 

He  is  persecuted  and  expelled  by  Juhan   .         .         .  533 

361-363  Zeal  and  Imprudence  of  the  Christians        .         .  535 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

RESIDEXCE  OF  JULIAN  AT  ANTIOCH HIS  SUCCESSFUL- 
EXPEDITION     AGAINST      THE     PERSIANS PASSAGE  OF 

THE    TIGRIS THE    RETREAT    AND    DEATH    OF    JULIAN 

ELECTION      OF      JOVIAN HE      SAVES      THE      ROMAN 

ARMY    BY    A    DISGRACEFUL    TREATY 

The  Caesars  of  Julian 538 

362  He  resolves  to  march  against  the  Persians  .  .  539 
Julian  proceeds  from  Constantinople  to  Antioch  .  541 
Licentious  manners  of  the  People  of  Antioch     .  541 

Their  Aversion  to  Julian 543 

Scarcity  of  Corn,  and  public  Discontient     .         .         .  543 

Julian  composes  a  Satire  against  Antioch  .         .         .  545 

314-390  The  Sophist  Libanius 546 

363  March  of  Julian  to  the  Euphrates       ....  548 

His  design  of  invading  Persia     .....  549 

Disaffection  of  the  King  of  Armenia  ....  550 

Military  Preparations          ......  551 

Julian  enters  the  Persian  Territories           .         ,         .  552 

His  March  over  the  Desert  of  Mesopotamia        .         .  553 

His  Success 555 

Description  of  Assyria 556 

363  Invasion  of  Assyria     ...,..•  558 


i 


CONTENTS  xvii 

A.D.  PAGE 

Siege  of  Perisabor 558 

Siege  of  Maogamalcha         ......  559 

Personal  Beha\'iour  of  Julian     .....  561 

He  transports  his  Fleet  from  the  Euphrates  to  the 

Tigris  .         .         . 564 

Passage  of  the  Tigris  and  Victory  of  the  Romans       .  566 

Situation  and  Obstinacy  of  Julian       ....  568 

He  burns  his  Fleet      .          ......  571 

Marches  against  Sapor         ......  573 

Eetreat  and  Distress  of  the  Roman  Army           .         .  575 

Julian  is  mortally  wounded         .....  577 

363  Death  of  Julian 579 

Election  of  the  Emperor  Jovian  ....  581 
Danger  and  Difficulty  of  the  Retreat  .  .  .  584 
Negotiation  and  Treaty  of  Peace  ....  586 
The  Weakness  and  Disgrace  of  Jovian  .  .  ,  .  588 
He  continues  his  Retreat  to  Xisibis  ....  589 
Universal  Clamour  against  the  Treaty  of  Peace  .  591 
Jovian  evacuates  Xisibis,  and  restores  the  five  Pro- 
vinces to  the  Persians 592 

Reflections  on  the  Death  of  .Julian     ....  594 

On  his  Funeral 596 


■ 


THE  HISTORY 

OF    THE 

DECLINE  AXD  FALL  OF  THE 
EOMAN   EMPIRE 

CHAPTER  XV 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION,  AND  THE 
SENTIJIENTS,  MANNERS,  NUMBERS,  AND  CONDITION, 
OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHRISTIANS 

A  CANDID  but  rational  inquiry  into  the  progress  and 
establishment  of  Christianity  may  be  considered  as  a 
very  essential  part  of  the  history  of  the  Roman  empire. 
While  that  great  body  was  invaded  by  open  violence, 
or  undermined  by  slow  decay^  a  pure  and  humble 
religion  gently  insinuated  itself  into  the  minds  of  men^ 
grew  up  in  silence  and  obscurity,  derived  new  vigour 
from  opposition,  and  finally  erected  the  triumphant 
banner  of  the  cross  on  the  ruins  of  the  Capitol.  Nor 
was  the  influence  of  Christianity  confined  to  the  period 
or  to  the  limits  of  the  Roman  empire.  After  a  revolu- 
tion of  thirteen  or  fourteen  centuries,  that  religion  is 
still  professed  by  the  nations  of  Europe,  the  most 
distinguished  portion  of  human  kind  in  arts  and 
learning  as  well  as  in  arms.  By  the  industry  and 
zeal  of  the  Europeans  it  has  been  widely  diffused  to 
the  most  distant  shores  of  Asia  and  Africa ;  and  by 
the  means  of  their  colonies  has  been  firmly  established 

VOL.   II.  A 


2  THE  DECLINE   AND  FALL 

from  Canada  to  Chili,   in   a  world  unknown   to  the 

ancients. 

But  this  inquiry,  however  useful  or  entertaining,  is 
attended  with  two  peculiar  difficulties.  The  scanty 
and  suspicious  materials  of  ecclesiastical  history  seldom 
enable  us  to  dispel  the  dark  cloud  that  hangs  over  the 
first  age  of  the  church.  The  great  law  of  impartiality 
too  often  obliges  us  to  reveal  the  imperfections  of  the 
uninspired  teachers  and  believers  of  the  gospel  ;  and, 
to  a  careless  observer,  their  faults  may  seem  to  cast  a 
shade  on  the  faith  which  they  professed.  But  the 
scandal  of  the  pious  Christian,  and  the  fallacious 
triumph  of  the  Infidel,  should  cease  as  soon  as  they 
recollect  not  only  by  whom,  but  likewise  to  whom,  the 
Divine  Revelation  was  given.  The  theologian  may 
indulge  the  pleasing  task  of  describing  Religion  as 
she  descended  from  Heaven,  arrayed  in  her  native 
purity.  A  more  melancholy  duty  is  imposed  on  the 
historian.  He  must  discover  the  inevitable  mixture 
of  error  and  corruption  which  she  contracted  in  a  long 
residence  upon  earth,  among  a  weak  and  degenerate 
race  of  beings. 

Our  curiosity  is  naturally  prompted  to  inquire  by 
what  means  the  Christian  faith  obtained  so  remarkable 
a  victory  over  the  established  religions  of  the  earth. 
To  this  inquiry,  an  obvious  but  satisfactory  answer 
may  be  returned  ;  that  it  was  owing  to  the  convincing 
evidence  of  the  doctrine  itself,  and  to  the  ruling  provi- 
dence of  its  great  Author.  But,  as  truth  and  reason 
seldom  find  so  favourable  a  reception  in  the  world,  and 
as  the  wisdom  of  Providence  frequently  condescends 
to  use  the  passions  of  the  human  heart,  and  the  general 
circumstances  of  mankind,  as  instruments  to  execute 
its  purpose  ;  we  may  still  be  permitted,  though  with 
becoming  submission,  to  ask  not  indeed  what  were  the 
first,  but  what  were  the  secondary  causes  of  the  rapid 
growth  of  the  Christian  church.  It  will,  perhaps,  ap- 
pear that  it  was  most  effectually  favoured  and  assisted 
by  the  five  following  causes  :  I.  The  inflexible,  and,  if 
we  may  use  the  expression,  the  intolerant  zeal  of  the 


OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  3 

Christians,  derived,  it  is  true,  from  the  Jewish  religion, 
but  purified  from  the  narrow  and  unsocial  spirit  which, 
instead  of  inviting,  had  deterred  the  Gentiles  from 
embracing  the  law  of  Moses.  II.  The  doctrine  of  a 
future  life,  improved  by  every  additional  circumstance 
which  couid  give  weight  and  efficacy  to  that  important 
truth.  III.  The  miraculous  powers  ascribed  to  the 
primitive  church.  IV.  The  pure  and  austere  morals 
of  the  Christians.  V.  The  union  and  discipline  of  the 
Christian  republic,  which  gradually  formed  an  inde- 
pendent and  increasing  state  in  the  heart  of  the  Roman 
empire. 

I.  We  have  already  described  the  religious  harmony 
of  the  ancient  world,  and  the  facility  with  which  the 
most  different  and  even  hostile  nations  embraced,  or 
at  least  respected,  each  other's  superstitions.  A  single 
people  refused  to  join  in  the  common  intercourse  of 
mankind.  The  Jews,  who,  under  the  Assyrian  and 
Persian  monarchies,  had  languished  for  many  ages  the 
most  despised  portion  of  their  slaves,  emerged  from 
obscurity  under  the  successors  of  Alexander  ;  and,  as 
they  multiplied  to  a  surprising  degree  in  the  East,  and 
afterwards  in  the  West,  they  soon  excited  the  curiosity 
and  wonder  of  other  nations.  The  sullen  obstinacy 
with  which  they  maintained  their  peculiar  rites  and 
unsocial  manners  seemed  to  mark  them  out  a  distinct 
species  of  men,  who  boldly  professed,  or  who  faintly 
disguised,  their  implacable  hatred  to  the  rest  of  human 
kind.  Neither  the  violence  of  Antiochus,  nor  the  arts 
of  Herod,  nor  the  example  of  the  circumjacent  nations, 
could  ever  persuade  the  Jews  to  associate  with  the 
institutions  of  Moses  the  elegant  mythology  of  the 
Greeks.^  According  to  the  maxims  of  universal  tolera- 
tion, the  Romans  protected  a  superstition  which  they 
despised.     The  polite  Augustus  condescended  to  give 

1  A  Jewish  sect,  which  indulged  themselves  in  a  sort  of  occa- 
sional conformity,  derived  from  Herod,  by  whose  example  and 
authority  they  had  been  seduced,  the  name  of  Herodians.  But 
their  numbers  were  so  inconsiderable,  and  their  duration  so 
short,  that  Josephus  has  not  thought  them  worthy  of  his  notice 


4  THE  DECLINE  AND  FALL 

orders  that  sacrifices  should  be  offered  for  his  pros- 
perity in  the  temple  of  Jerusalem ;  ^  while  the  meanest 
of  the  posterity  of  Abraham,  who  should  have  paid  the 
same  homage  to  the  Jupiter  of  the  Capitol,  would  have 
been  an  object  of  abhorrence  to  himself  and  to  his 
brethren.  But  the  moderation  of  the  conquerors  was 
insufficient  to  appease  the  jealous  prejudices  of  their 
subjects,  who  were  alarmed  and  scandalised  at  the 
ensigns  of  paganism,  which  necessarily  introduced 
themselves  into  a  Roman  province.  The  mad  attempt 
of  Caligula  to  place  his  own  statue  in  the  temple  of 
Jerusalem  was  defeated  by  the  unanimous  resolution 
of  a  people  who  dreaded  death  much  less  than  such  an 
idolatrous  profanation. 3  Their  attachment  to  the  law 
of  Moses  was  equal  to  their  detestation  of  foreign 
religions.  The  current  of  zeal  and  devotion,  as  it 
was  contracted  into  a  narrow  channel,  ran  with  the 
strength,  and  sometimes  with  the  fury,  of  a  torrent. 

This  inflexible  perseverance,  which  appeared  so 
odious,  or  so  ridiculous,  to  the  ancient  world,  assumes 
a  more  awful  character,  since  Providence  has  deigned 
to  reveal  to  us  the  mysterious  history  of  the  chosen 
people.  But  the  devout,  and  even  scrupulous,  attach- 
ment to  the  Mosaic  religion,  so  conspicuous  among 
the  Jews  who  lived  under  the  second  temple,  becomes 
still  more  surprising,  if  it  is  compared  with  the  stubborn 
incredulity  of  their  forefathers.  When  the  law  was 
given  in  thunder  from  Mount  Sinai  ;  when  the  tides 
of  the  ocean  and  the  course  of  the  planets  were  sus- 
pended for  the  convenience  of  the  Israelites  ;  and 
when  temporal  rewards  and  punishments  were  the 
immediate  consequences  of  their  piety  or  disobedience  ; 

2  Augustus  left  a  foundation  for  a  perpetual  sacrifice.  Yet 
he  approved  of  the  neglect  which  his  grandson  Caius  expressed 
towards  the  temple  of  Jerusalem. 

3  Philo  and  Josephus  gave  a  very  circumstantial,  but  a  very 
rhetorical,  account  of  this  transaction,  which  exceedingly  per- 
plexed the  governor  of  Syria.  At  the  first  mention  of  this 
idolatrous  proposal,  King  Agrippa  fainted  away  ;  and  did  not 
recover  his  senses  till  the  third  day. 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  6 

they  perpetually  relapsed  into  rebellion  against  the 
visible  majesty  of  their  Divine  King,  placed  the  idols 
of  the  nations  in  the  sanctuary  of  Jehovah,  and  imi- 
tated every  fantastic  ceremony  that  was  practised  in 
the  tents  of  the  Arabs  or  in  the  cities  of  Phoenicia.*  As 
the  protection  of  Heaven  was  deservedly  withdrawn 
from  the  ungrateful  race,  their  faith  acquired  a  pro- 
portionable degree  of  vigour  and  purity.  The  contem- 
poraries of  Moses  and  Joshua  had  beheld,  with  careless 
indifference,  the  most  amazing  miracles.  Under  the 
pressure  of  every  calamity,  the  belief  of  those  miracles 
has  preserved  the  Jews  of  a  later  period  from  the  uni- 
versal contagion  of  idolatry  ;  and,  in  contradiction  to 
every  known  principle  of  the  human  mind,  that  singular 
people  seems  to  have  yielded  a  stronger  and  more 
ready  assent  to  the  traditions  of  their  remote  ancestors 
than  to  the  evidence  of  their  own  senses.^ 

The  Jewish  religion  was  admirably  fitted  for  defence, 
but  it  was  never  designed  for  conquest ;  and  it  seems 
probable  that  the  number  of  proselytes  was  never 
much  superior  to  that  of  apostates.  The  divine 
promises  were  originally  made,  and  the  distinguishing 
rite  of  circumcision  was  enjoined,  to  a  single  family. 
When  the  posterity  of  Abraham  had  multiplied  like 
the  sands  of  the  sea,  the  Deity,  from  whose  mouth 
they  received  a  system  of  laws  and  ceremonies,  de- 
clared himself  the  proper  and,  as  it  were,  the  national 
God  of  Israel  ;  and,  with  the  most  jealous  care, 
separated  his  favourite  people  from  the  rest  of  man- 
kind. The  conquest  of  the  land  of  Canaan  was 
accompanied  with  so  many  wonderful  and  with  so 
many  bloody  circumstances  that  the  victorious  Jews 

4  For  the  enumeration  of  the  Syrian  and  Arabkn  deities,  it 
may  be  observed  that  Milton  has  comprised,  in  one  hundred  and 
thirty  very  beautiful  lines,  the  two  large  and  learned  syntagmas 
which  Selden  had  composed  on  that  abstruse  subject. 

^  "How  long  will  this  people  provoke  me?  and  how  long 
will  it  be  ere  they  believe,  me,  for  all  the  signs  which  I  have 
shown  among  them?"  (Numbers,  xiv.  ii).  It  would  be  easy, 
but  it  would  be  unbecoming,  to  justify  the  complaint  of  the 
Deity,  from  the  whole  tenor  of  the  Mosaic  history. 


6  THE   DECLINE  AND  FALL 

were  left  in  a  state  of  irreconcilable  hostility  with  all 
their  neighbours.  They  had  been  commanded  to 
extirpate  some  of  the  most  idolatrous  tribes  ;  and  the 
execution  of  the  Divine  will  had  seldom  been  retarded 
by  the  weakness  of  humanity.  With  the  other  nations 
they  were  forbidden  to  contract  any  marriages  or 
alliances ;  and  the  prohibition  of  receiving  them  into 
the  congregation,  which^  in  some  cases^  was  perpetual, 
almost  always  extended  to  the  third,  to  the  seventh, 
or  even  to  the  tenth  generation.  The  obligation  of 
preaching  to  the  Gentiles  the  faith  of  Moses  had 
never  been  inculcated  as  a  precept  of  the  law,  nor 
were  the  Jews  inclined  to  impose  it  on  themselves  as 
a  voluntary  duty.  In  the  admission  of  new  citizens, 
that  unsocial  people  was  actuated  by  the  selfish  vanity 
of  the  Greeks,  rather  than  by  the  generous  policy  of 
Rome.  The  descendants  of  Abraham  were  flattered 
by  the  opinion  that  they  alone  were  the  heirs  of  the 
covenant ;  and  they  were  apprehensive  of  diminishing 
the  value  of  their  inheritance,  by  sharing  it  too  easily 
with  the  strangers  of  the  earth.  A  larger  acquaint- 
ance with  mankind  extended  their  knowledge  without 
correcting  their  prejudices  ;  and,  whenever  the  God 
of  Israel  acquired  any  new  votaries,  he  was  much 
more  indebted  to  the  inconstant  humour  of  polytheism 
than  to  the  active  zeal  of  his  own  missionaries.  The 
religion  of  Moses  seems  to  be  instituted  for  a  particular 
country,  as  well  as  for  a  single  nation  ;  and,  if  a  strict 
obedience  had  been  paid  to  the  order  that  every  male, 
three  times  in  the  year,  should  present  himself  before 
the  Lord  Jehovah,  it  would  have  been  impossible  that 
the  Jews  could  ever  have  spread  themselves  beyond 
the  narrow  limits  of  the  promised  land.  That  obstacle 
was  indeed  removed  by  the  destruction  of  the  temple 
of  Jerusalem  ;  but  the  most  considerable  part  of  the 
Jewish  religion  was  involved  in  its  destruction ;  and 
the  Pagans,  who  had  long  wondered  at  the  strange 
report  of  an  empty  sanctuary,  were  at  a  loss  to  discover 
what  could  be  the  object,  or  what  could  be  the 
instruments,    of   a   worship   which    was   destitute    of 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  7 

temples  and  of  altars,  of  priests  and  of  sacrifices.  Yet 
even  in  their  fallen  state,  the  Jews,  still  asserting 
their  lofty  and  exclusive  privileges,  shunned,  instead 
of  courting,  the  society  of  strangers.  They  still  in- 
^lsted  with  inflexible  rigour  on  those  parts  of  the 
law  vrhich  it  was  in  their  power  to  practise.  Their 
peculiar  distinctions  of  days,  of  meats,  and  a  variety 
of  trivial  though  burdensome  observances,  were  so 
many  objects  of  disgust  and  aversion  for  the  other 
nations,  to  whose  habits  and  prejudices  they  were 
diametrically  opposite.  The  painful  and  even  danger- 
ous rite  of  circumcision  was  alone  capable  of  repelling 
a  willing  proselyte  from  the  door  of  the  synagogue. 

Under  these  circumstances,  Christianity  offered 
itself  to  the  world,  armed  with  the  strength  of  the 
Mosaic  law,  and  delivered  from  the  weight  of  its 
fetters.  An  exclusive  zeal  for  the  truth  of  religion 
and  the  unity  of  God  was  as  carefully  inculcated  in 
the  new  as  in  the  ancient  system  ;  and  whatever  was 
now  revealed  to  mankind,  concerning  the  nature  and 
designs  of  the  Supreme  Being,  was  fitted  to  increase 
their  reverence  for  that  mysterious  doctrine.  The 
divine  authority  of  Moses  and  the  prophets  was 
admitted,  and  even  established,  as  the  firmest  basis 
of  Christianity.  From  the  beginning  of  the  world, 
an  uninterrupted  series  of  predictions  had  announced 
and  prepared  the  long  expected  coming  of  the  Messiah, 
who,  in  compliance  with  the  gross  apprehensions  of 
the  Jews,  had  been  more  frequently  represented  under 
the  character  of  a  King  and  Conqueror,  than  under 
that  of  a  Prophet,  a  Martyr,  and  the  Son  of  God. 
By  his  expiatory  sacrifice,  the  imperfect  sacrifices  of 
the  temple  were  at  once  consummated  and  abolished. 
The  ceremonial  law,  which  consisted  only  of  types 
and  figures,  was  succeeded  by  a  pure  and  spiritual 
worship,  equally  adapted  to  all  climates,  as  well  as  to 
every  condition  of  mankind  ;  and  to  the  initiation  of 
blood  was  substituted  a  more  harmless  initiation  of 
water.  The  promise  of  divine  favour,  instead  of  being 
partially  confined   to  the   posterity  of  Abraham,  was 


8  THE  DECLINE  AND   FALL 

universally  proposed  to  the  freeman  and  the  slave^  to 
the  Greek  and  to  the  barbarian,  to  the  Jew  and  to 
the  Gentile.  Every  privilege  that  could  raise  the 
proselyte  from  earth  to  Heaven,  that  could  exalt  his 
devotion,  secure  his  happiness,  or  even  gratify  that 
secret  pride  which,  under  the  semblance  of  devotion, 
insinuates  itself  into  the  human  heart,  was  still 
reserved  for  the  members  of  the  Christian  church ; 
but  at  the  same  time  all  mankind  was  permitted,  and 
even  solicited,  to  accept  the  glorious  distinction,  which 
was  not  only  proffered  as  a  favour,  but  imposed  as  an 
obligation.  It  became  the  most  sacred  duty  of  a  new 
convert  to  diffuse  among  his  friends  and  relations  the 
inestimable  blessing  which  he  had  received,  and  to 
warn  them  against  a  refusal  that  would  be  severely 
punished  as  a  criminal  disobedience  to  the  will  of  a 
benevolent  but  all-powerful  deity. 

The  enfranchisement  of  the  church  from  the  bonds 
of  the  synagogue  was  a  work,  however,  of  some  time 
and  of  some  difficulty.  The  Jewish  converts,  who 
acknowledged  Jesus  in  the  character  of  the  Messiah 
foretold  by  their  ancient  oracles,  respected  him  as  a 
prophetic  teacher  of  virtue  and  religion;'  but  they 
obstinately  adhered  to  the  ceremonies  of  their  ances- 
tors, and  were  desirous  of  imposing  them  on  the 
Gentiles,  who  continually  augmented  the  number  of 
believers.  These  Judaising  Christians  seem  to  have 
argued  with  some  degree  of  plausibility  from  the 
divine  origin  of  the  Mosaic  law,  and  from  the  immut- 
able perfections  of  its  great  Author.  They  affirmed 
that,  if  the  Being,  who  is  the  same  through  all  eternity, 
had  designed  to  abolish  those  sacred  rites  which  had 
served  to  distinguish  his  chosen  people,  the  repeal  of 
them  would  have  been  no  less  clear  and  solemn  than 
their  first  promulgation  :  that,  instead  of  those  frequent 
declarations,  which  either  suppose  or  assert  the  per- 
petuity of  the  Mosaic  religion,  it  would  have  been 
represented  as  a  provisionary  scheme  intended  to  last 
only  till  the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  who  should  instruct 
mankind  in  a  more  perfect  mode  of  faith  and  of  wor- 


OF  THE    ROMAN  EiMPIRE  9 

ship  :  that  the  Messiah  himself,  and  his  disciples  who 
conversed  with  him  on  earth,  instead  of  authorising 
by  their  example  the  most  minute  observances  of  the 
Mosaic  law,  would  have  published  to  the  world  the 
abolition  of  those  useless  and  obsolete  ceremonies, 
without  suffering  Christianity  to  remain  during  so 
many  years  obscurely  confounded  among  the  sects  of 
the  Jewish  church.  Arguments  like  these  appear  to 
have  been  used  in  the  defence  of  the  expiring  cause 
of  the  Mosaic  law  ;  but  the  industry  of  our  learned 
divines  has  abundantly  explained  the  ambiguous  lan- 
guage of  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  ambiguous  conduct 
of  the  apostolic  teachers.  It  was  proper  gradually  to 
unfold  the  system  of  the  Gospel,  and  to  pronounce, 
with  the  utmost  caution  and  tenderness,  a  sentence 
of  condemnation  so  repugnant  to  the  inclination  and 
prejudices  of  the  believing  Jews. 

The  history  of  the  church  of  Jerusalem  affords  a 
lively  proof  of  the  necessity  of  those  precautions,  and 
of  the  deep  impression  which  the  Jewish  religion  had 
made  on  the  minds  of  its  sectaries.  The  first  fifteen 
bishops  of  Jerusalem  were  all  circumcised  Jews  ;  and 
the  congregation  over  which  they  presided,  united  the 
law  of  Moses  with  the  doctrine  of  Christ.  It  was 
natural  that  the  primitive  tradition  of  a  church  which 
was  founded  only  forty  years  after  the  death  of  Christ, 
and  was  governed  almost  as  many  years  under  the 
immediate  inspection  of  his  apostle,  should  be  received 
as  the  standard  of  orthodoxy.  The  distant  churches 
very  frequently  appealed  to  the  authority  of  their 
venerable  Parent,  and  relieved  her  distresses  by  a 
liberal  contribution  of  alms.  But,  when  numerous 
and  opulent  societies  were  established  in  the  great 
cities  of  the  empire,  in  Antioch,  Alexandria,  Ephesus, 
Corinth,  and  Rome,  the  reverence  which  Jerusalem 
had  inspired  to  all  the  Christian  colonies  insensibly 
diminished.  The  Jewish  converts,  or,  as  they  were 
afterwards  called,  the  Nazarenes,  who  had  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  church,  soon  found  themselves 
overwhelmed  by  the  increasing  multitudes  that  from 

VOL.  II.  A    ') 


10  THE   DECLINE  AND  FALL 

all  the  various  religions  of  polytheism  inlisted  under 
the  banner  of  Christ  ;  and  the  Gentiles,  who  with  the 
approbation  of  their  peculiar  apostle  had  rejected  the 
intolerable  weight  of  Mosaic  ceremonies,  at  length 
refused  to  their  more  scrupulous  brethren  the  same 
toleration  which  at  first  they  had  humbly  solicited  for 
their  own  practice.  The  ruin  of  the  temple,  of  the 
city,  and  of  the  public  religion  of  the  Jews,  was 
severely  felt  by  the  Nazarenes ;  as  in  their  manners, 
though  not  in  their  faith,  they  maintained  so  intimate 
a  connection  with  their  impious  countrymen,  whose 
misfortunes  were  attributed  by  the  Pagans  to  the 
contempt,  and  more  justly  ascribed  by  the  Christians 
to  the  wrath,  of  the  Supreme  Deity.  The  Nazarenes 
retired  from  the  ruins  of  Jerusalem  to  the  little  town 
of  Pella  beyond  the  Jordan,  where  that  ancient  church 
languished  above  sixty  years  in  solitude  and  obscurity.^ 
They  still  enjoyed  the  comfort  of  making  frequent  and 
devout  visits  to  the  Holy  City,  and  the  hope  of  being 
one  day  restored  to  those  seats  which  both  nature  and 
religion  taught  them  to  love  as  well  as  to  revere.  But 
at  length,  under  the  reign  of  Hadrian,  the  desperate 
fanaticism  of  the  Jews  filled  up  the  measure  of  their 
calamities  ;  and  the  Romans,  exasperated  by  their 
repeated  rebellions,  exercised  the  rights  of  victory 
with  unusual  rigour.  The  emperor  founded,  under 
the  name  of  ^lia  Capitolina,  a  new  city  on  Mount 
Sion,7  to  which  he  gave  the  privileges  of  a  colony  ; 
and,  denouncing  the  severest  penalties  against  any  of 
the  Jewish  people  who  should  dare  to  approach  its 
precincts,  he  fixed  a  vigilant  garrison  of  a  Roman  cohort 
to  enforce  the  execution  of  his  orders.    The  Nazarenes 

s  During  this  occasional  absence,  the  bishop  and  church  of 
Pella  still  retained  the  title  of  Jerusalem.  In  the  same  manner, 
the  Roman  pontiffs  resided  seventy  years  at  Avignon  ;  and  the 
patriarchs  of  Alexandria  have  long  since  transferred  their  epis- 
copal seat  to  Cairo. 

''  The  exile  of  the  Jewish  nation  from  Jerusalem  is  attested 
by  Aristo  of  Pella  (apud  Euseb.  1.  iv.  c.  6),  and  is  mentioned  by 
several  ecclesiastical  vi^riters  ;  though  some  of  them  too  hastily 
extend  this  interdiction  to  the  whole  country  of  Palestine. 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EiMPIRE  11 

had  only  one  way  left  to  escape  the  common  proscrip- 
tion, and  the  force  of  truth  was,  on  this  occasion, 
assisted  by  the  influence  of  temporal  advantages.  They 
elected  Marcus  for  their  bishop,  a  prelate  of  the  race 
of  the  Gentiles,  and  most  probably  a  native  either  of 
Italy  or  of  some  of  the  Latin  provinces.  At  his  per- 
suasion, the  most  considerable  part  of  the  congregation 
renounced  the  Mosaic  law,  in  the  practice  of  which 
they  had  persevered  above  a  century.  By  this  sacrifice 
of  their  habits  and  prejudices  they  purchased  a  free 
admission  into  the  colony  of  Hadrian,  and  more  firmly 
cemented  their  union  with  the  Catholic  church. 

WTien  the  name  and  honours  of  the  church  of 
Jerusalem  had  been  restored  to  Mount  Sion,  the 
crimes  of  heresy  and  schism  were  imputed  to  the 
obscure  remnant  of  the  Nazarenes  which  refused  to 
accompany  their  Latin  bishop.  They  still  preserved 
their  former  habitation  of  Pella,  spread  themselves 
into  the  villages  adjacent  to  Damascus,  and  formed 
an  inconsiderable  church  in  the  city  of  Bercea,  or,  as 
it  is  now  called,  of  Aleppo,  in  Syria. ^  The  name  of 
Nazarenes  was  deemed  too  honourable  for  those 
Christian  Jews,  and  they  soon  received  from  the 
supposed  poverty  of  their  understanding,  as  well  as 
of  their  condition,  the  contemptuous  epithet  of 
Ebionites.^  In  a  few  years  after  the  return  of  the 
church  of  Jerusalem,  it  became  a  matter  of  doubt  and 
controversy  whether  a  man  who  sincerely  acknow- 
ledged Jesus  as  the  Messiah,  but  who  still  continued 
to  observe  the  law  of  Moses,  could  possibly  hope  for 

'  Le  Clerc  (Hist.  Ecclesiast.  pp.  477,  535)  seems  to  have  col- 
lected from  Eusebius,  Jerome,  Epiphanius,  and  other  writers, 
all  the  principal  circumstances  that  relate  to  the  Nazarenes,  or 
Ebionites.  The  nature  of  their  opinions  soon  divided  them 
into  a  stricter  and  a  milder  sect ;  and  there  is  some  reason  to 
conjecture  that  the  family  of  Jesus  Christ  remained  members, 
at  least,  of  the  latter  and  more  moderate  party. 

9  Some  writers  have  been  pleased  to  create  an  Ebion,  the 
Imaginary  author  of  their  sect  and  name.  But  we  can  more 
safely  rely  on  the  learned  Eusebius  than  on  the  vehement 
Tertullian  or  the  credulous  Epiphaniias. 


12  THE  DECLINE   AND   FALL 

salvation.  The  humane  temper  of  Justin  Martyr  in- 
clined him  to  answer  this  question  in  the  affirmative  ; 
and,  though  he  expressed  himself  with  the  most 
guarded  diffidence,  he  ventured  to  determine  in  favour 
of  such  an  imperfect  Christian,  if  he  were  content  to 
practise  the  Mosaic  ceremonies,  without  pretending 
to  assert  their  general  use  or  necessity.  But,  when 
Justin  was  pressed  to  declare  the  sentiment  of  the 
church,  he  confessed  that  there  were  very  many 
among  the  orthodox  Christians,  who  not  only  ex- 
cluded their  Judaising  brethren  from  the  hope  of 
salvation,  hut  who  declined  any  intercourse  with  them 
in  the  common  offices  of  friendship,  hospitality,  and 
social  life.  The  more  rigorous  opinion  prevailed,  as 
it  was  natural  to  expect,  over  the  milder ;  and  an 
external  bar  of  separation  was  fixed  between  the 
disciples  of  Moses  and  those  of  Christ.  The  unfor- 
tunate Ebionites,  rejected  from  one  religion  as 
apostates,  and  from  the  other  as  heretics,  found  them- 
selves compelled  to  assume  a  more  decided  character  ; 
and,  although  some  traces  of  that  obsolete  sect  may 
be  discovered  as  late  as  the  fourth  century,  they 
insensibly  melted  away  either  into  the  church  or  the 
synagogue.^*' 

While  the  orthodox  church  preserved  a  just  medium 
between  excessive  veneration  and  improper  contempt 
for  the  law  of  Moses,  the  various  heretics  deviated  into 
equal  but  opposite  extremes  of  error  and  extravagance. 
From  the  acknowledged  truth  of  the  Jewish  religion 
the  Ebionites  had  concluded  that  it  could  never  be 

10  Of  all  the  systems  of  Christianity,  that  of  Abyssinia  is  the 
only  one  which  still  adheres  to  the  Mosaic  rites.  The  eunuch 
of  the  queen  Candace  might  suggest  some  suspicions ;  but,  as 
we  are  assured  that  the  Ethiopians  were  not  converted  till  the 
fourth  century,  it  is  more  reasonable  to  believe  that  they  re- 
spected the  Sabbath,  and  distinguished  the  forbidden  meats,  in 
imitation  of  the  Jews,  who,  in  a  very  early  period,  were  seated 
on  both  sides  of  the  Red  Sea.  Circumcision  had  been  prac- 
tised by  the  most  ancient  .Ethiopians,  from  motives  of  health 
and  cleanliness,  which  seem  to  be  explained  in  the  Recherches 
Philosophiques  sur  les  Am^ricains,  tom.  ii.  p.  117. 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  18 

abolished.  From  its  supposed  imperfections  the  Gnos- 
tics as  hastily  inferred  that  it  never  was  instituted  by 
the  wisdom  of  the  Deity.  There  are  some  objections 
against  the  authority  of  Moses  and  the  prophets,  which 
too  readily  present  themselves  to  the  sceptical  mind  ; 
though  they  can  only  be  derived  from  our  ignorance 
of  remote  antiquity,  and  from  our  incapacity  to  form 
an  adequate  judgment  of  the  divine  oeconomy.  These 
objections  were  eagerly  embraced,  and  as  petulantly 
urged,  by  the  vain  science  of  the  Gnostics.  As  those 
heretics  were,  for  the  most  part,  averse  to  the  pleasures 
of  sense,  they  morosely  arraigned  the  polygamy  of  the 
patriarchs,  the  gallantries  of  David,  and  the  seraglio 
of  Solomon.  The  conquest  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  and 
the  extirpation  of  the  unsuspecting  natives,  they  were 
at  a  loss  how  to  reconcile  with  the  common  notions  of 
humanity  and  justice.  But,  when  they  recollected  the 
sanguinary  list  of  murders,  of  executions,  and  of  massa- 
cres, which  stain  almost  every  page  of  the  Jewish  annals, 
they  ackno^'ledged  that  the  barbarians  of  Palestine 
had  exercised  as  much  compassion  towards  their  idola- 
trous enemies  as  they  had  ever  shown  to  their  friends 
or  countrymen.  Passing  from  the  sectaries  of  the  law 
to  the  law  itself,  they  asserted  that  it  was  impossible 
that  a  religion  which  consisted  only  of  bloody  sacrifices 
and  trifling  ceremonies,  and  whose  rewards  as  well  as 
punishments  were  all  of  a  carnal  and  temporal  nature, 
could  inspire  the  love  of  virtue,  or  restrain  that  im- 
petuosity of  passion.  The  Mosaic  account  of  the  crea- 
tion and'  fall  of  man  wai  treated  with  profane  derision 
by  the  Gnostics,  who  would  not  listen  with  patience  to 
the  repose  of  the  Deity  after  six  days'  labour,  to  the 
rib  of  Adam,  the  garden  of  Eden,  the  trees  of  life  and 
of  knowledge,  the  speaking  serpent,  the  forbidden 
fruit,  and  the  condemnation  pronounced  against  human 
kind  for  the  venial  offence  of  their  first  progenitors. 
The  God  of  Israel  was  impiously  represented  by  the 
Gnostics  as  a  being  liable  to  passion  and  to  error, 
capricious  in  his  favour,  implacable  in  his  resentment, 
meanly  jealous  of  his  superstitious  worship,  and  con- 


14  THE  DECLINE  AND   FALL 

fining  his  partial  providence  to  a  single  people  and  to 
this  transitory  life.  In  such  a  character  they  could 
discover  none  of  the  features  of  the  wise  and  omnipo- 
tent father  of  the  universe.  ^^  They  allowed  that  the 
religion  of  the  Jews  was  somewhat  less  criminal  than 
the  idolatry  of  the  Gentiles  ;  but  it  was  their  funda- 
mental doctrine  that  the  Christ  whom  they  adored  as 
the  first  and  brightest  emanation  of  the  Deity  appeared 
upon  earth  to  rescue  mankind  from  their  various  errors, 
and  to  reveal  a  new  system  of  truth  and  perfection. 
The  most  learned  of  the  fathers,  by  a  very  singular 
condescension,  have  imprudently  admitted  the  sophistry 
of  the  Gnostics.  Acknowledging  that  the  literal  sense 
is  repugnant  to  every  principle  of  faith  as  well  as 
reason,  they  deem  themselves  secure  and  invulnerable 
behind  the  ample  veil  of  allegory,  which  they  carefully 
spread  over  every  tender  part  of  the  Mosaic  dispen- 
sation. 

It  has  been  remarked,  with  more  ingenuity  than 
truth,  that  the  virgin  purity  of  the  church  was  never 
violated  by  schism  or  heresy  before  the  reign  of  Trajan 
or  Hadrian,  about  one  hundred  years  after  the  death 
of  Christ.  We  may  observe,  with  much  more  pro- 
priety, that,  during  that  period,  the  disciples  of  the 
Messiah  were  indulged  in  a  freer  latitude  both  of  faith 
and  practice  than  has  ever  been  allowed  in  succeeding 
ages.  As  the  terms  of  communion  were  insensibly 
narrowed,  and  the  spiritual  authority  of  the  prevailing 
party  was  exercised  with  increasing  severity,  many  of 
its  most  respectable  adherents,  who  were  called  upon 
to  renounce,  were  provoked  to  assert,  their  private 
opinions,  to  pursue  the  consequences  of  their  mistaken 
principles,  and  openly  to  erect  the  standard  of  rebellion 
against  the  unity  of  the  church.     The  Gnostics  were 

11  The  milder  Gnostics  considered  Jehovah,  the  Creator,  as  a 
Being  of  a  mixed  nature  between  God  and  the  Daemon.  Others 
confounded  him  with  the  evil  principle.  Consult  the  second 
century  of  the  general  history  of  Mosheim,  which  gives  a  very 
distinct,  though  concise,  account  of  their  strange  opinions  on 
this  subject 


OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE  15 

distingTiished  as  the  most  polite,  the  most  learned,  and 
the  most  wealthy  of  the  Christian  name^  and  that 
g-eneral  appellation  which  expressed  a  superiority  of 
knowledge  was  either  assumed  by  their  own  pride  or 
ironically  bestowed  by  the  envy  of  their  adversaries. 
They  were  almost  without  exception  of  the  race  of  the 
Gentiles,  and  their  principal  founders  seem  to  have 
been  natives  of  Syria  or  Egypt,  where  the  warmth  of 
the  climate  disposes  both  the  mind  and  the  body  to 
indolent  and  contemplative  devotion.  The  Gnostics 
blended  with  the  faith  of  Christ  many  sublime  but 
obscure  tenets  which  they  derived  from  oriental  philo- 
sophy, and  even  from  the  religion  of  Zoroaster,  con- 
cerning the  eternity  of  matter,  the  existence  of  two 
principles,  and  the  mysterious  hierarchy  of  the  invisible 
world.  As  soon  as  they  launched  out  into  that  vast 
abyss,  they  delivered  themselves  to  the  guidance  of  a 
disordered  imagination  ;  and,  as  the  paths  of  error  are 
various  and  infinite,  the  Gnostics  were  imperceptibly 
divided  into  more  than  fifty  particular  sects,  of  whom 
the  most  celebrated  appear  to  have  been  the  Basilidians, 
the  Valentinians,  the  Marcionites,  and,  in  a  still  later 
period,  the  Manichasans.  Each  of  these  sects  could 
boast  of  its  bishops  and  congregations,  of  its  doctors 
and  martyrs,  and,  instead  of  the  four  gospels  adopted 
by  the  church,  the  heretics  produced  a  multitude  of 
histories,  in  which  the  actions  and  discourses  of  Christ 
and  of  his  apostles  were  adapted  to  their  respective 
tenets.12  xhe  success  of  the  Gnostics  was  rapid  and 
extensive.     They  covered  Asia  and  Egypt,  established 

12  See  a  very  remarkable  passage  of  Origen  (Proem,  ad 
Lucam).  That  indefatigable  writer,  who  had  consumed  his 
life  in  the  study  of  the  scriptures,  relies  for  their  authenticity  on 
the  inspired  authority  of  the  church.  It  was  impossible  that 
the  Gnostics  could  receive  our  present  gospels,  many  parts  of 
which  (particularly  in  the  resurrection  of  Christ)  are  directly, 
and  as  it  might  seem  designedly,  pointed  against  their  favourite 
tenets.  It  is  therefore  somewhat  singular  that  Ignatius  (Epist. 
ad  Smyrn.  Patr.  Apostol.  tom.  ii.  p.  34)  should  choose  to  em- 
ploy a  vague  and  doubtful  tradition,  instead  of  quoting  the 
certain  testimony  of  the  evangelists. 


16  THE   DECLINE  AND  FALL 

themselves  in  Rome,  and  sometimes  penetrated  into 
tlie  provinces  of  the  West.  For  the  most  part  they 
arose  in  the  second  century,  flourished  during  the 
third,  and  were  suppressed  in  the  fourth  or  fifth,  by 
the  prevalence  of  more  fashionable  controversies,  and 
by  the  superior  ascendant  of  the  reigning  power. 
Though  they  constantly  disturbed  the  peace,  and  fre- 
quently disgraced  the  name,  of  religion,  they  contri- 
buted to  assist  rather  than  to  retard  the  progress  of 
Christianity.  The  Gentile  converts,  whose  strongest 
objections  and  prejudices  were  directed  against  the 
law  of  Moses,  could  find  admission  into  many  Christian 
societies,  which  required  not  from  their  untutored 
mind  any  belief  of  an  antecedent  revelation.  Their 
faith  was  insensibly  fortified  and  enlarged,  and  the 
church  was  ultimately  benefited  by  the  conquests  of 
its  most  inveterate  enemies.  ^^ 

But,  whatever  diff'erence  of  opinion  might  subsist 
between  the  Orthodox,  the  Ebionites,  and  the 
Gnostics,  concerning  the  divinity  or  the  obligation  of 
the  Mosaic  law,  they  were  all  equally  animated  by  the 
same  exclusive  zeal  and  by  the  same  abhorrence  for 
idolatry  which  had  distinguished  the  Jews  from  the 
other  nations  of  the  ancient  world.  The  philosopher, 
who  considered  the  system  of  polytheism  as  a  com- 
position of  human  fraud  and  error,  could  disguise  a 
smile  of  contempt  under  the  mask  of  devotion,  without 
apprehending  that  either  the  mockery  or  the  com- 
pliance would  expose  him  to  the  resentment  of  any 
invisible,  or,  as  he  conceived  them,  imaginary  powers. 
But  the  established  religions  of  Paganism  were  seen 
by  the  primitive  Christians  in  a  much  more  odious  and 
formidable  light.  It  was  the  universal  sentiment  both 
of  the  church  and  of  heretics  that  the  daemons  were 
the  authors,  the  patrons,  and  the  objects  of  idolatry. 
Tliose  rebellious  spirits  who  had  been  degraded  from 
the    rank   of   angels,    and    cast    down    into    the    in- 

13  Augustin  is  a  memorable  instance  of  this  gradual  progress 
from  reason  to  faith.  He  was,  during  several  years,  engaged 
in  the  Manichasan  sect. 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  17 

fernal  pit,  were  still  permitted  to  roam  upon  earth,  to 
torment  the  bodies,  and  to  seduce  the  minds,  of  sinful 
men.  The  daemons  soon  discovered  and  abused  the 
natural  propensity  of  the  human  heart  towards  de- 
votion, and,  artfully  withdrawing  the  adoration  of 
mankind  from  their  Creator,  they  usurped  the  place 
and  honours  of  the  Supreme  Deity.  By  the  success  of 
their  malicious  contrivances,  they  at  once  gratified 
their  own  vanity  and  revenge,  and  obtained  the  only 
comfort  of  which  they  were  yet  susceptible,  the  hope 
of  involving  the  human  species  in  the  participation  of 
their  guilt  and  misery.  It  was  confessed,  or  at  least  it 
was  imagined,  that  they  had  distributed  among  them- 
selves the  most  important  characters  of  pol\i;heism, 
one  dasmon  assuming  the  name  and  attributes  of 
Jupiter,  another  of  iEsculapius,  a  third  of  Venus,  and 
a  fourth  perhaps  of  Apollo  ;  ^^  and  that,  by  the  advantage 
of  their  long  experience  and  aerial  nature,  they  were 
enabled  to  execute,  with  sufficient  skill  and  dignity, 
the  parts  which  they  had  undertaken.  They  lurked 
in  the  temples,  instituted  festivals  and  sacrifices, 
invented  fables,  pronounced  oracles,  and  were  fre- 
quently allowed  to  perform  miracles.  The  Christians, 
who,  by  the  interposition  of  evil  spirits,  could  so 
readily  explain  every  praeternatural  appearance,  were 
disposed  and  even  desirous  to  admit  the  most  extrava- 
gant fictions  of  the  Pagan  mythology.  But  the  belief 
of  the  Christian  was  accompanied  with  horror.  The 
most  trifling  mark  of  respect  to  the  national  worship  he 
considered  as  a  direct  homage  yielded  to  the  daemon, 
and  as  an  act  of  rebellion  against  the  majesty  of  God. 

In  consequence  of  this  opinion,  it  was  the  first  but 
arduous  duty  of  a  Christian  to  preserve  himself  pure 
and  undefiled  by  the  practice  of  idolatry.  The  religion 
of  the  nations  was  not  merely  a  speculative  doctrine 
professed  in  the  schools  or  preached  in  the  temples. 
The  innumerable  deities  and  rites  of  polytheism  were 

1*  TertuUian  (Apolog.  c.  23)  alleges  the  confession  of  the 
Daemons  themselves  as  often  as  they  were  tormented  by  the 
Christian  exorcists. 


18  THE   DECLINE  AND   FALL 

closely  interwoven  with  every  circumstance  of  business 
or  pleasure,  of  public  or  of  private  life  ;  and  it  seemed 
impossible  to  escape  the  observance  of  them_,  without, 
at  the  same  time,  renouncing  the  commerce  of  man- 
kind and  all  the  offices  and  amusements  of  society.^^ 
The  important  transactions  of  peace  and  war  were 
prepared  or  concluded  by  solemn  sacrifices,  in  which 
the  magistrate,  the  senator,  and  the  soldier  were 
obliged  to  preside  or  to  participate.^^  The  public 
spectacles  were  an  essential  part  of  the  cheerful  de- 
votion of  the  Pagans,  and  the  gods  were  supposed  to 
accept,  as  the  most  grateful  offering,  the  games  that 
the  prince  and  people  celebrated  in  honour  of  their 
peculiar  festivals.^^  The  Christian,  who  with  pious 
horror  avoided  the  abomination  of  the  circus  or  the 
theatre,  found  himself  encompassed  with  infernal 
snares  in  every  convivial  entertainment,  as  often  as  his 
friends,  invoking  the  hospitable  deities,  poured  out 
libations  to  each  other^s  happiness.^*  When  the  bride, 
struggling  with  well-affected  reluctance,  was  forced 
in  hjinenaeal  pomp  over  the  thresliold  of  her  new 
habitation,  or  when  the  sad  procession  of  the  dead 
slowly  moved  towards  the  funeral  pile ;  ^^  the  Christian, 

ifi  TertuUian  has  written  a  most  severe  treatise  against  idolatry, 
to  caution  his  brethren  against  the  hourly  danger  of  incurring 
that  guilt.  Recogita  silvam,  et  quantae  latitant  spinae.  De 
Coron^  Militis,  c.  lo. 

18  The  Roman  senate  was  always  held  in  a  temple  or  conse- 
crated place.  Before  they  entered  on  business,  every  senator 
dropped  some  wine  and  frankincense  on  the  altar. 

i'  See  TertuUian,  De  Spectaculis.  This  severe  reformer  shows 
no  more  indulgence  to  a  tragedy  of  Euripides  than  to  a  combat 
of  gladiators.  The  dress  of  the  actors  particularly  offends  him. 
By  the  use  of  the  lofty  buskin,  they  impiously  strive  to  add  a 
cubit  to  their  stature,  c.  23. 

18  The  ancient  practice  of  concluding  the  entertainment  with 
libations  may  be  found  in  every  classic. 

19  The  ancient  funerals  (in  those  of  Misenus  and  Pallas)  are 
no  less  accurately  described  by  Virgil  than  they  are  illustrated 
by  his  commentator  Servius.  The  pile  itself  was  an  altar,  the 
flames  were  fed  with  the  blood  of  victims,  and  all  the  assistants 
were  sprinkled  with  lustral  water; 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  19 

on  these  interesting'  occasions,  was  compelled  to  desert 
the  persons  who  were  the  dearest  to  him,  rather  than 
contract  the  guilt  inherent  to  those  impious  cere- 
monies. Every  art  and  every  trade  that  was  in  the 
least  concerned  in  the  framing  or  adorning  of  idols 
was  polluted  by  a  stain  of  idolatry  ;  a  severe  sentence, 
since  it  devoted  to  eternal  misery  the  far  greater  part 
of  the  community,  which  is  employed  in  the  exercise 
of  liberal  or  mechanic  professions.  If  we  cast  our 
eyes  over  the  numerous  remains  of  antiquity,  we  shall 
perceive  that,  besides  the  immediate  representations  of 
the  Gods  and  the  holy  instruments  of  their  worship, 
the  elegant  forms  and  agreeable  fictions,  consecrated 
by  the  imagination  of  the  Greeks,  were  introduced  as 
the  richest  ornaments  of  the  houses,  the  dress,  and 
the  furniture,  of  the  Pagans.  Even  the  arts  of  music 
and  painting,  of  eloquence  and  poetry,  flowed  from  the 
same  impure  origin.  In  the  style  of  the  fathers, 
Apollo  and  the  Muses  were  the  organs  of  the  infernal 
spirit.  Homer  and  Virgil  were  the  most  eminent  of  his 
servants,  and  the  beautiful  mythology  which  pervades 
and  animates  the  compositions  of  their  genius  is 
destined  to  celebrate  the  glory  of  the  daemons.  Even 
the  common  language  of  Greece  and  Rome  abounded 
with  familiar  but  impious  expressions,  which  the  im- 
prudent Christian  might  too  carelessly  utter,  or  too 
patiently  hear.^o 

The  dangerous  temptations  which  on  every  side 
lurked  in  ambush  to  surprise  the  unguarded  believer 
assailed  him  with  redoubled  violence  on  the  days  of 
solemn  festivals.  So  artfully  were  they  framed  and 
disposed  throughout  the  year  that  superstitution  always 
wore  the  appearance  of  pleasure,  and  often  of  virtue, ^^ 

90  If  a  Pagan  friend  (on  the  occasion  perhaps  of  sneezing)  used 
the  familiar  expression  of  "Jupiter  bless  you,"  the  Christian 
was  obliged  to  protest  against  the  divinity  of  Jupiter. 

21  Consult  the  most  laboured  work  of  Ovid,  his  imperfect 
Fasti.  He  finished  no  more  than  the  first  six  months  of  the 
year.  The  compilation  of  Macrobius  is  called  the  Saturnalia, 
but  it  is  only  a  small  part  of  the  first  book  that  bears  any  rela- 
tion to  the  title. 


20  THE   D£CLIx\E   AND  FALL 

Some  of  the  most  sacred  festivals  in  the  Roman  ritual 
were  destined  to  salute  the  new  calends  of  January 
with  vows  of  public  and  private  felicity,  to  indulge  the 
pious  remembrance  of  the  dead  and  living,  to  ascertain 
the  inviolable  bounds  of  property,  to  hail,  on  the 
return  of  spring,  the  genial  powers  of  fecundity,  to 
perpetuate  the  two  memorable  aeras  of  Rome,  the 
foundation  of  the  city  and  that  of  the  republic,  and  to 
restore,  during  the  humane  license  of  the  Saturnalia, 
the  primitive  equality  of  mankind.  Some  idea  may  be 
conceived  of  the  abhorrence  of  the  Christians  for  such 
impious  ceremonies,  by  the  scrupulous  delicacy  which 
they  displayed  on  a  much  less  alarming  occasion.  On 
days  of  general  festivity,  it  was  the  custom  of  the 
ancients  to  adorn  their  doors  with  lamps  and  with 
branches  of  laurel,  and  to  crown  their  heads  with  a 
garland  of  flowers.  Tliis  innocent  and  elegant  practice 
might,  perhaps,  have  been  tolerated  as  a  mere  civil 
institution.  But  it  most  unluckily  happened  that  the 
doors  were  under  the  protection  of  the  household  gods, 
that  the  laurel  was  sacred  to  the  lover  of  Daphne,  and 
that  garlands  of  flowers,  though  frequently  worn  as 
a  symbol  either  of  joy  or  mourning,  had  been  dedi- 
cated in  their  first  origin  to  the  service  of  superstition. 
The  trembling  Christians,  who  were  persuaded  in  this 
instance  to  comply  with  the  fashion  of  their  country 
and  the  commands  of  the  magistrate,  laboured  under 
the  most  gloomy  apprehensions,  from  the  reproaches 
of  their  own  conscience,  the  censures  of  the  church, 
and  the  denunciations  of  divine  vengeance.  ^^ 

Such  was  the  anxious  diligence  which  was  required 
to  guard  the  chastity  of  the  gospel  from  the  infectious 
breath  of  idolatry.     The  superstitious  observances  of 

22  TertuUian  has  composed  a  defence,  or  rather  panegyric,  of 
the  rash  action  of  a  Christian  soldier  who,  by  throwing  away 
his  crown  of  laurel,  had  exposed  himself  and  his  brethren  to 
the  most  imminent  danger.  By  the  mention  of  the  emperors 
(Severus  and  Caracalla)  it  is  evident,  notwithstanding  the  wishes 
of  M.  de  Tillemont,  that  TertuUian  composed  his  treatise  De 
Coroni  long  before  he  was  engaged  in  the  errors  of  the 
Montanists. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  21 

public  or  private  rites  were  carelessly  practised^,  from 
education  and  habit^  by  the  followers  of  the  established 
religion.  But^  as  often  as  they  occurred,  they  afforded 
the  Christians  an  opportunity  of  declaring  and  con- 
firming their  zealous  opposition.  By  these  frequent 
protestations,  tlieir  attachment  to  the  faith  was  con- 
tinually fortified,  and,  in  proportion  to  the  increase  of 
zeal,  they  combated  with  the  more  ardour  and  success 
in  the  holy  war  which  they  had  undertaken  against 
the  empire  of  the  daemons. 

II.  The  writings  of  Cicero  ^  represent,  in  the  most 
lively  colours,  the  ignorance,  the  errors,  and  the  un- 
certainty of  the  ancient  philosophers,  with  regard  to 
the  immortality  of  the  soul.  When  they  are  desirous 
of  arming  their  disciples  against  the  fear  of  death, 
they  inculcate,  as  an  obvious  though  melancholy  posi- 
tion, that  the  fatal  stroke  of  our  dissolution  releases 
us  from  the  calamities  of  life,  and  that  those  can  no 
longer  suffer  who  no  longer  exist.  Yet  there  were  a 
few  sages  of  Greece  and  Rome  who  had  conceived  a 
more  exalted,  and,  in  some  respects,  a  juster  idea  of 
human  nature  ;  though  it  must  be  confessed  that,  in 
the  sublime  inquiry,  their  reason  had  been  often  guided 
by  their  imagination,  and  that  their  imagination  had 
been  prompted  by  their  vanity.  When  they  viewed 
with  complacency  the  extent  of  their  own  mental 
powers,  when  they  exercised  the  various  faculties  of 
memory,  of  fancy,  and  of  judgment,  in  the  most  pro- 
found speculations,  or  the  most  important  labours,  and 
when  they  reflected  on  the  desire  of  fame,  which  trans- 
ported them  into  future  ages  far  beyond  the  bounds 
of  death  and  of  the  grave  ;  they  were  unwilling  to 
confound  themselves  with  the  beasts  of  the  field,  or 
to  suppose  that  a  being,  for  whose  dignity  they  enter- 
tained the  most  sincere  admiration,  could  be  limited 

23  In  particular,  the  first  book  of  the  Tusculan  Questions,  and 
the  treatise  De  Senectute,  and  the  Somnium  Scipionis  contain, 
in  the  most  beautiful  language,  everything  that  Grecian  philo- 
sophy, or  Roman  good  sense,  could  possibly  suggest  on  this 
dark  but  important  object. 


22  THE   DECLINE   AND    FALL 

to  a  spot  of  earth  and  to  a  few  years  of  duration. 
With  this  favourable  prepossession,  they  summoned 
to  their  aid  the  science,  or  rather  the  language,  of 
Metaphysics.  They  soon  discovered  that,  as  none  of 
the  properties  of  matter  will  apply  to  the  operations 
of  the  mind,  the  human  soul  must  consequently  be 
a  substance  distinct  from  the  body,  pure,  simple,  and 
spiritual,  incapable  of  dissolution,  and  susceptible  of 
a  much  higher  degree  of  virtue  and  happiness  after 
the  release  from  its  corporeal  prison.  From  these 
spacious  and  noble  principles,  the  philosophers  who 
trod  in  the  footsteps  of  Plato  deduced  a  very  unjusti- 
fiable conclusion,  since  they  asserted,  not  only  the 
future  immortality,  but  the  past  eternity  of  the  human 
soul,  which  they  were  too  apt  to  consider  as  a  portion 
of  the  infinite  and  self-existing  spirit  which  pervades 
and  sustains  the  universe. 2*  A  doctrine  thus  removed 
beyond  the  senses  and  the  experience  of  mankind 
might  serve  to  amuse  the  leisure  of  a  philosophic 
mind  ;  or,  in  the  silence  of  solitude,  it  might  some- 
times impart  a  ray  of  comfort  to  desponding  virtue ; 
but  the  faint  impression  which  had  been  received  in 
the  schools  was  soon  obliterated  by  the  commerce  and 
business  of  active  life.  We  are  sufficiently  acquainted 
with  the  eminent  persons  who  flourished  in  the  age 
of  Cicero,  and  of  the  first  Caesars,  with  their  actions, 
their  characters,  and  their  motives,  to  be  assured  that 
their  conduct  in  this  life  was  never  regulated  by  any 
serious  conviction  of  the  rewards  or  punishments  of  a 
future  state.  At  the  bar  and  in  the  senate  of  Rome 
the  ablest  orators  were  not  apprehensive  of  giving 
offence  to  their  hearers  by  exposing  that  doctrine  as 
an  idle  and  extravagant  opinion,  which  was  rejected 
with  contempt  by  every  man  of  a  liberal  education  and 
understanding. 

Since,  therefore,  the  most  sublime  efforts  of  philo- 
sophy can  extend  no  farther  than  feebly  to  point  out 

24  The  pre-existence  of  human  souls,  so  far  at  least  as  that 
doctrine  is  compatible  with  religion,  was  adopted  by  many  of 
the  Greek  and  Latin  fathers. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  23 

the  desire,  the  hope,  or  at  most  the  probability,  of  a 
future  state,  there  is  nothing-,  except  a  divine  revela- 
tion, that  can  ascertain  the  existence,  and  describe  the 
condition,  of  the  invisible  country  which  is  destined  to 
receive  the  souls  of  men  after  their  separation  from 
the  body.  But  we  may  perceive  several  defects  in- 
herent to  the  popular  religions  of  Greece  and  Rome, 
which  rendered  them  very  unequal  to  so  arduous  a 
task.  1.  The  general  system  of  their  mythology  was 
unsupported  by  any  solid  proofs  ;  and  the  wisest  among 
the  Pagans  had  already  disclaimed  its  usurped  authority. 
2.  The  description  of  the  infernal  regions  had  been 
abandoned  to  the  fancy  of  painters  and  of  poets,  who 
peopled  them  with  so  many  phantoms  and  monsters, 
who  dispensed  their  rewards  and  punishments  with  so 
little  equity,  that  a  solemn  truth,  the  most  congenial 
to  the  human  heart,  was  oppressed  and  disgraced  by 
the  absurd  mixture  of  the  wildest  fictions.^°  3.  The 
doctrine  of  a  future  state  was  scarcely  considered 
among  the  devout  pohiiheists  of  Greece  and  Rome  as 
a  fundamental  article  of  faith.  The  providence  of  the 
gods,  as  it  related  to  public  communities  rather  than 
to  private  individuals,  was  principally  displayed  on 
the  visible  theatre  of  the  present  world.  The  petitions 
which  were  offered  on  the  altars  of  Jupiter  or  Apollo 
expressed  the  anxiety  of  their  worshippers  for  temporal 
happiness,  and  their  ignorance  or  indifference  con- 
cerning a  future  life.  The  important  truth  of  the 
immortality  of  the  soul  was  inculcated  with  more 
diligence  as  well  as  success  in  India,  in  Assyria,  in 
Egypt,  and  in  Gaul ;  and,  since  we  cannot  attribute 
such  a  difference  to  the  superior  knowledge  of  the 
barbarians,  we  must  ascribe  it  to  the  influence  of  an 
established  priesthood,  which  employed  the  motives  of 
virtue  as  the  instrument  of  ambition. 

25  The  xith  book  of  the  Odyssey  gives  a  very  dreary  and 
incoherent  account  of  the  infernal  shades.  Pindar  and  Virgil 
have  embellished  the  picture  ;  but  even  those  poets,  though 
more  correct  than  their  great  model,  are  guilty  of  very  strange 
inconsistencies. 


24  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

We  might  naturally  expect  that  a  principle,  so 
essential  to  religion,  would  have  been  revealed  in  the 
clearest  terms  to  the  chosen  people  of  Palestine,  and 
that  it  might  safely  have  been  intrusted  to  the  heredi- 
tary priesthood  of  Aaron.  It  is  incumbent  on  us  to 
adore  the  mysterious  dispensations  of  Provideuce,^^ 
when  we  discover  that  the  doctrine  of  the  immortality 
of  the  soul  is  omitted  in  the  law  of  Moses ;  it  is  darkly 
insinuated  by  the  prophets,  and  during  the  long  period 
which  elapsed  between  the  Egyptian  and  the  Babylonian 
servitudes,  the  hopes  as  well  as  fears  of  the  Jews  appear 
to  have  been  confined  within  the  narrow  compass  of 
the  present  life.  After  Cyrus  had  permitted  the  exiled 
nation  to  return  into  the  promised  land,  and  after  Ezra 
had  restored  the  ancient  records  of  their  religion,  two 
celebrated  sects,  the  Sadducees  and  the  Pharisees, 
insensibly  arose  at  Jerusalem.^*"  The  former,  selected 
from  the  more  opulent  and  distinguished  ranks  of 
society,  were  strictly  attached  to  the  literal  sense  of  the 
Mosaic  law,  and  they  piously  rejected  the  immortality 
of  the  soul,  as  an  opinion  that  received  no  countenance 
from  the  Divine  book,  which  they  revered  as  the  only 
rule  of  their  faith.  To  the  authority  of  scripture  the 
Pharisees  added  that  of  tradition,  and  they  accepted, 
under  the  name  of  traditions,  several  speculative  tenets 
from  the  philosophy  or  religion  of  the  eastern  nations. 
The  doctrines  of  fate  or  predestination,  of  angels  and 
spirits,  and  of  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punish- 
ments, were  in  the  number  of  these  new  articles  of 
belief ;  and,  as  the  Pharisees,  by  the  austerity  of  their 
manners,  had  drawn  into  their  party  the  body  of  the 
Jewish  people,  the  immortality  of  the  soul  became  the 

26  The  right  reverend  author  of  the  Divine  Legation  of  Moses 
assigns  a  very  curious  reason  for  the  omission,  and  most  in- 
geniously retorts  it  on  the  unbelievers. 

27  Joseph.  Antiquitat.  1.  xiii.  c.  lo.  De  Bell.  Jud.  ii.  8. 
According  to  the  most  natural  interpretation  of  his  words,  the 
Sadducees  admitted  only  the  Pentateuch  ;  but  it  has  pleased 
some  modern  critics  to  add  the  prophets  to  their  creed,  and  to 
suppose  that  they  contented  themselves  with  rejecting  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  Pharisees. 


OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  26 

prevailing  sentiment  of  the  synagogue,  under  the  reign 
of  the  Asmonaean  princes  and  pontiffs.  The  temper  of 
the  Jews  was  incapable  of  contenting  itself  with  such 
a  cold  and  languid  assent  as  might  satisfy  the  mind  of 
a  Polytheist ;  and^  as  soon  as  they  admitted  the  idea 
of  a  future  state,  they  embraced  it  with  the  zeal  which 
has  always  formed  the  characteristic  of  the  nation. 
Their  zeal,  however,  added  nothing  to  its  evidence,  or 
even  probability  :  and  it  was  still  necessary  that  the 
doctrine  of  life  and  immortality,  which  had  been 
dictated  by  nature,  approved  by  reason,  and  received 
by  superstition,  should  obtain  the  sanction  of  Divine 
truth  from  the  authority  and  example  of  Christ. 

MTien  the  promise  of  eternal  happiness  was  proposed 
to  mankind,  on  condition  of  adopting  the  faith  and  of 
observing  the  precepts  of  the  gospel,  it  is  no  wonder 
that  so  advantageous  an  offer  should  have  been  ac- 
cepted by  great  numbers  of  every  religion,  of  every 
rank,  and  of  every  province  in  the  Roman  empire. 
The  ancient  Christians  were  animated  by  a  contempt 
for  their  present  existence,  and  by  a  just  confidence  of 
immortality,  of  which  the  doubtful  and  imperfect  faith 
of  modern  ages  cannot  give  us  any  adequate  notion. 
In  the  primitive  church,  the  influence  of  truth  was 
very  powerfully  strengthened  by  an  opinion  which, 
however  it  may  deserve  respect  for  its  usefulness  and 
antiquity,  has  not  been  found  agreeable  to  experience. 
It  was  universally  believed  that  the  end  of  the  world 
and  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  were  at  hand.  The  near 
approach  of  this  wonderful  event  had  been  predicted 
by  the  apostles  ;  the  tradition  of  it  was  preserved  by 
their  earliest  disciples,  and  those  who  understood  in 
their  literal  sense  the  discourses  of  Christ  himself  were 
obliged  to  expect  the  second  and  glorious  coming  of 
the  Son  of  Man  in  the  clouds,  before  that  generation 
was  totally  extinguished,  which  had  beheld  his  humble 
condition  upon  earth,  and  which  might  still  be  witness 
of  the  calamities  of  the  Jews  under  Vespasian  or 
Hadrian.  The  revolution  of  seventeen  centuries  has 
instructed  us  not  to  press  too  closely  the  mysterious 


26  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

languag'e  of  prophecy  and  revelation  ;  but^  as  long  as, 
for  wise  purposes^  this  error  was  permitted  to  subsist 
in  the  church,  it  was  productive  of  the  most  salutary 
effects  on  the  faith  and  practice  of  Christians_,  who 
lived  in  the  awful  expectation  of  that  moment  when 
the  globe  itself.  Sand  all  the  various  race  of  man- 
kind, should  tremble  at  the  appearance  of  their  divine 
judge.28 

The  ancient  and  popular  doctrine  of  the  Millennium 
was  intimately  connected  with  the  second  coming  of 
Christ.  As  the  works  of  the  creation  had  been  finished 
in  six  days,  their  duration  in  their  present  state,  ac- 
cording to  a  tradition  which  was  attributed  to  the 
prophet  Elijah,  was  fixed  to  six  thousand  years.^  By 
the  same  analogy  it  was  inferred  that  this  long  period 
of  labour  and  contention,  which  was  now  almost 
elapsed, ^°  would  be  succeeded  by  a  joyful  Sabbath  of  a 
thousand  years  ;  and  that  Christ,  with  the  triumphant 
band  of  the  saints  and  the  elect  who  had  escaped 
death,  or  who  had  been  miraculously  revived,  would 
reign  upon  earth  till  the  time  appointed  for  the  last 
and  general  resurrection.     So  pleasing  was  this  hope 

28  This  expectation  was  countenanced  by  the  twenty-fourth 
chapter  of  St.  Matthew,  and  by  the  first  epistle  of  St.  Paul  to 
the  Thessalonians.  Erasmus  removes  the  difficulty  by  the  help 
of  allegory  and  metaphor ;  and  the  learned  Grotius  ventures  to 
insinuate  that,  for  wise  purposes,  the  pious  deception  was  per- 
mitted to  take  place. 

2»  This  tradition  may  be  traced  as  high  as  the  author  of  the 
Epistle  of  Barnabas,  who  wrote  in  the  first  century,  and  who 
seems  to  have  been  half  a  Jew. 

80  The  primitive  church  of  Antioch  computed  almost  6ooo 
years  from  the  creation  of  the  world  to  the  birth  of  Christ, 
Africanus,  Lactantius,  and  the  Greek  church,  have  reduced  that 
number  to  5500,  and  Eusebius  has  contented  himself  with  5200 
years.  These  calculations  were  formed  on  the  Septuagint, 
which  was  universally  received  during  the  first  six  centuries. 
The  authority  of  the  Vulgate  and  of  the  Hebrew  text  has 
determined  the  moderns,  Protestants  as  well  as  Catholics,  to 
prefer  a  period  of  about  4000  years ;  though,  in  the  study  of 
profane  antiquity,  they  often  find  themselves  straitened  by  those 
narrow  limits. 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  27 

to  the  mind  of  believers  that  the  New  Jerusalem,  the 
seat  of  this  blissful  king-dom,  was  quickly  adorned  with 
all  the  gayest  colours  of  the  imagination.  A  felicity 
consisting  only  of  pure  and  spiritual  pleasure  would 
have  appeared  too  refined  for  its  inhabitants,  who  were 
still  supposed  to  possess  their  human  nature  and 
senses.  A  garden  of  Eden,  with  the  amusements  of 
the  pastoral  life,  was  no  longer  suited  to  the  advanced 
state  of  society  which  prevailed  under  the  Roman 
empire.  A  city  was  therefore  erected  of  gold  and 
precious  stones,  and  a  supernatural  plenty  of  corn 
and  wine  was  bestowed  on  the  adjacent  territority  ; 
in  the  free  enjoyment  of  whose  spontaneous  produc- 
tions the  happy  and  benevolent  people  was  never  to  be 
restrained  by  any  jealous  laws  of  exclusive  property.^^ 
The  assurance  of  such  a  Millennium  was  carefully  in- 
culcated by  a  succession  of  fathers  from  Justin  Martyr 
and  Irenaeus,  who  conversed  with  the  immediate  dis- 
ciples of  the  apostles,  down  to  Lactantius,  who  was 
preceptor  to  the  son  of  Constantine.^^  Though  it 
might  not  be  universally  received,  it  appears  to  have 
been  the  reigning  sentiment  of  the  orthodox  believers  ; 
and  it  seems  so  well  adapted  to  the  desires  and  appre- 
hensions of  mankind  that  it  must  have  contributed,  in 
a  very  considerable  degree,  to  the  progress  of  the 
Christian  faith.  But,  when  the  edifice  of  the  church 
was  almost  completed,  the  temporary  support  was  laid 
aside.  The  doctrine  of  Christ^s  reign  upon  earth  was 
at  first  treated  as  a  profound  allegory,  was  considered 
by  degrees  as  a  doubtful  and  useless  opinion,  and  was 

1  Most  of  these  pictures  were  borrowed  from  a  misinterpreta- 
tion of  Isaiah,  Daniel,  and  the  Apocalypse.  One  of  the  grossest 
images  may  be  found  in  Irenseus,  the  disciple  of  Papias,  who 
had  seen  the  apostle  St.  John. 

32  The  testimony  of  Justin,  of  his  own  faith  and  that  of  his 
orthodox  brethren,  in  the  doctrine  of  a  Millennium,  is  delivered 
in  the  clearest  and  most  solemn  manner  (Dialog,  cum.  Try- 
phonte  Jud.  pp.  177,  178,  edit.  Benedictin).  If  in  the  beginning 
of  this  important  passage  there  is  anything  like  an  inconsistency, 
we  may  impute  it,  as  we  think  proper,  either  to  the  author  or  to 
his  transcribers. 


28  THE  DECLINE   AND  FALL 

at  length  rejected  as  the  absurd  invention  of  heresy 
and  fanaticism.  A  mysterious  prophecy,  which  still 
forms  a  part  of  the  sacred  canon,  but  which  was 
thought  to  favour  the  exploded  sentiment,  has  very 
narrowly  escaped  the  proscription  of  the  church.^ 

Whilst  the  happiness  and  glory  of  a  temporal  reign 
were  promised  to  the  disciples  of  Christ,  the  most 
dreadful  calamities  were  denounced  against  an  unbe- 
lieving world.  The  edification  of  the  new  Jerusalem 
"^as  to  advance  by  equal  steps  with  the  destruction  of 
the  mystic  Babylon  ;  and,  as  long  as  the  emperors 
who  reigned  before  Constantine  persisted  in  the  pro- 
fession of  idolatry,  the  epithet  of  Babylon  was  applied 
to  the  city  and  to  the  empire  of  Rome.  A  regular 
series  was  prepared  of  all  the  moral  and  physical  evils 
which  can  afflict  a  flourishing  nation  ;  intestine  dis- 
cord, and  the  invasion  of  the  fiercest  barbarians  from 
the  unknown  regions  of  the  North  ;  pestilence  and 
famine,  comets  and  eclipses,  earthquakes  and  inunda- 
tions. All  these  were  only  so  many  preparatory  and 
alarming  signs  of  the  great  catastrophe  of  Rome,  when 
the  country  of  the  Scipios  and  Caesars  should  be  con- 
sumed by  a  flame  from  Heaven,  and  the  city  of  the 

33  In  the  Council  of  Laodicea  (about  the  year  360)  the 
Apocalypse  was'tacitly  excluded  from  the  sacred  canon,  by  the 
same  churches  of  Asia  to  which  it  is  addressed  ;  and  we  may 
learn  from  the  complaint  of  Sulpicius  Severus  that  their  sentence 
had  been  ratified  by  the  greater  number  of  Christians  of  his 
time.  From  what  causes,  then,  is  the  Apocalypse  at  present 
so  generally  received  by  the  Greek,  the  Roman,  and  the  Pro- 
testant churches  ?  The  following  ones  may  be  assigned,  i.  The 
Greeks  were  subdued  by  the  authority  of  an  impostor  who,  in 
the  sixth  century,  assumed  the  character  of  Dionysius  the 
Areopagite,  2.  A  just  apprehension,  that  the  grammarians 
might  become  more  important  than  the  theologians,  engaged 
the  Council  of  Trent  to  fix  the  seal  of  their  infallibility  on  all 
the  books  of  Scripture,  contained  in  the  Latin  Vulgate,  in  the 
number  of  which  the  Apocalypse  was  fortunately  included. 
3.  The  advantage  of  turning  those  mysterious  prophecies 
against  the  See  of  Rome  inspired  the  Protestav.ts  with  un- 
common veneration  for  so  useful  an  ally.  See  the  ingenious 
and  elegant  discourses  of  the  present  bishop  of  Lichfield  on 
that  unpromising  subject. 


OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  29 

seven  hills^  with  her  palaces,  her  temples,  and  her 
triumphal  arches,  should  be  buried  in  a  vast  lake  of 
fire  and  brimstone.  It  might,  however,  afford  some 
consolation  to  Roman  vanity,  that  the  period  of  their 
empire  would  be  that  of  the  world  itself ;  which,  as  it 
had  once  perished  by  the  element  of  water,  was  destined 
to  experience  a  second  and  a  speedy  destruction  from 
the  element  of  fire.  In  the  opinion  of  a  general  con- 
flagration, the  faith  of  the  Christian  very  happily- 
coincided  with  the  tradition  of  the  East,  the  philosophy 
of  the  Stoics,  and  the  analogy  of  Nature  ;  and  even 
the  country  which,  from  religious  motives,  had  been 
chosen  for  the  origin  and  principal  scene  of  the  con- 
flagration, was  the  best  adapted  for  that  purpose  by 
natural  and  physical  causes  ;  by  its  deep  caverns,  beds 
of  sulphur,  and  numerous  volcanoes,  of  which  those 
of  -lEtna,  of  Vesuvius,  and  of  Lipari,  exhibit  a  very 
imperfect  representation.  The  calmest  and  most  in- 
trepid sceptic  could  not  refuse  to  acknowledge  that  the 
destruction  of  the  present  system  of  the  world  by  fire 
was  in  itself  extremely  probable.  The  Christian,  who 
founded  his  belief  much  less  on  the  fallacious  argu- 
ments of  reason  than  on  the  authority  of  tradition  and 
the  interpretation  of  scripture,  expected  it  with  terror 
and  confidence,  as  a  certain  and  approaching  event ; 
and,  as  his  mind  was  perpetually  filled  with  the  solemn 
idea,  he  considered  every  disaster  that  happened  to  the 
empire  as  an  infallible  symptom  of  an  expiring  world.^"^ 
The  condemnation  of  the  wisest  and  most  virtuous 
of  the  Pagans,  on  account  of  their  ignorance  or  dis- 
belief of  the  divine  truth,  seems  to  offend  the  reason 
and  the  humanity  of  the  present  age.^    But  the  primi- 

54  On  this  subject  every  reader  of  taste  will  be  entertained 
with  the  third  part  of  Burnet's  Sacred  Theory,  He  blends  philo- 
sophy, scripture,  and  tradition,  into  one  magnificent  system  ;  in 
the  description  of  which  he  displays  a  strength  of  fancy  not  in- 
ferior to  that  of  Milton  himself. 

35  And  yet,  whatever  may  be  the  language  of  individuals,  it 
is  still  the  public  doctrine  of  all  the  Christian  churches  ;  nor 
can  even  our  ov/n  refuse  to  admit  the  conclusions  which  must 
be  drawn  from  the  viiith  and  the  xviiith  of  her  Articles.     The 


30  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

tive  church,  whose  faith  was  of  a  much  firmer  con- 
sistence,  delivered  over,  without  hesitation,  to  eternal 
torture  the  far  greater  part  of  the  human  species.  A 
charitable  hope  might  perhaps  be  indulged  in  favour 
of  Socrates,  or  some  other  sages  of  antiquity,  who  had 
consulted  the  light  of  reason  before  that  of  the  gospel 
had  arisen. ^^  But  it  was  unanimously  affirmed  that 
those  who,  since  the  birth  or  the  death  of  Christ,  had 
obstinately  persisted  in  the  worship  of  the  daemons, 
neither  deserved,  nor  could  expect,  a  pardon  from  the 
irritated  justice  of  the  Deity,  These  rigid  sentiments, 
which  had  been  unknown  to  the  ancient  world,  appear 
to  have  infused  a  spirit  of  bitterness  into  a  system  of 
love  and  harmony.  The  ties  of  blood  and  fi'iendship 
were  frequently  torn  asunder  by  the  difference  of 
religious  faith  ;  and  the  Christians,  who,  in  this  world, 
found  themselves  oppressed  by  the  power  of  the  Pagans, 
were  sometimes  seduced  by  resentment  and  spiritual 
pride  to  delight  in  the  prospect  of  their  future  triumph. 
''You  are  fond  of  spectacles,"  exclaims  the  stern  Ter- 
tuUian  ;  "  expect  the  greatest  of  all  spectacles,  the  last 
and  eternal  judgment  of  the  universe.  How  shall  I 
admire,  how  laugh,  how  rejoice,  how  exult,  when  I 
behold  so  many  proud  monarchs,  and  fancied  gods, 
groaning  in  the  lowest  abyss  of  darkness ;  so  many 
magistrates,  who  persecuted  the  name  of  the  Lord, 
liquefying  in  fiercer  fires  than  they  ever  kindled  against 
the  Christians  ;  so  many  sage  philosophers  blushing  in 
red  hot  flames,  with  their  deluded  scholars  ;  so  many 
celebrated  poets  trembling  before  the  tribunal,  not  of 

Jansenists,  who  have  so  diligently  studied  the  works  of  the 
fathers,  maintain  this  sentiment  with  distinguished  zeal ;  and 
the  learned  M.  de  Tillemont  never  dismisses  a  virtuous  emperor 
without  pronouncing  his  damnation.  Zuinglius  is  perhaps  the 
only  leader  of  a  party  who  has  ever  adopted  the  milder  senti- 
ment, and  he  gave  no  less  offence  to  the  Lutherans  than  to  the 
Catholics. 

3«  Justin  and  Clemens  of  Alexandria  allow  that  some  of  the 
philosophers  were  instructed  by  the  Logos  ;  confounding  its 
double  signification  of  the  human  reason  and  of  the  Divine 
Word. 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  31 

Minos,  but  of  Christ ;  so  many  tragedians,  more  tune- 
ful in  the  expression  of  their  own  sufferings  ;  so  many 

dancers !"     But  the  humanity  of  the  reader  will 

permit  me  to  draw  a  veil  over  the  rest  of  this  infernal 
description,  which  the  zealous  African  pursues  in  a 
long  variety  of  affected  and  unfeeling  witticisms.  2" 

Doubtless  there  were  many  among  the  primitive 
Christians  of  a  temper  more  suitable  to  the  meekness 
and  charity  of  their  profession.  There  were  many  who 
felt  a  sincere  compassion  for  the  danger  of  their  friends 
and  countrymen,  and  who  exerted  the  most  benevolent 
zeal  to  save  them  from  the  impending  destruction. 
The  careless  Polytheist,  assailed  by  new  and  unex- 
pected terrors,  against  which  neither  his  priests  nor 
his  philosophers  could  afford  him  any  certain  protec- 
tion, was  very  frequently  terrified  and  subdued  by  the 
menace  of  eternal  tortures.  His  fears  might  assist  the 
progress  of  his  faith  and  reason  ;  and,  if  he  could  once 
persuade  himself  to  suspect  that  the  Christian  religion 
might  possibly  be  true,  it  became  an  easy  task  to  con- 
vince him  that  it  was  the  safest  and  most  prudent 
party  that  he  could  possibly  embrace. 

HI.  The  supernatural  gifts,  which  even  in  this  life 
were  ascribed  to  the  Christians  above  the  rest  of  man- 
kind, must  have  conduced  to  their  own  comfort,  and 
very  frequently  to  the  conviction  of  infidels.  Besides 
the  occasional  prodigies,  which  might  sometimes  be 
effected  by  the  immediate  interposition  of  the  Deity 
when  he  suspended  the  laws  of  Nature  for  the  service 
of  religion,  the  Christian  church,  from  the  time  of  the 
apostles  and  their  first  disciples,^^  has  claimed  an  un- 

37  Tertullian,  De  Spectaculis,  c.  30.  In  order  to  ascertain 
the  degree  of  authority  which  the  zealous  African  had  acquired, 
it  may  be  sufficient  to  allege  the  testimony  of  Cyprian,  the 
doctor  and  guide  of  all  the  western  churches.  As  often  as  he 
applied  himself  to  his  daily  study  of  the  writings  of  Tertullian, 
he  was  accustomed  to  say,  "  Da  mihi  magistrum  ;  Give  me  my 
master." 

28  Notwithstanding  the  evasions  of  Dr.  Middleton,  it  is  im- 
possible to  overlook  the  clear  traces  of  visions  and  inspiration, 
which  may  be  found  in  the  apostolic  fathers. 


32  THE  DECLINE  AND   FALL 

interrupted  succession  of  miraculous  powers,  the  gift 
of  tongues,  of  vision  and  of  prophecy,  the  power  of 
expelling  daemons,  of  healing  the  sick,  and  of  raising 
the  dead.  The  knowledge  of  foreign  languages  was 
frequently  communicated  to  the  contemporaries  of 
Irenaeus,  though  Irenaeus  himself  was  left  to  struggle 
with  the  difficulties  of  a  barbarous  dialect  whilst  he 
preached  the  gospel  to  the  natives  of  Gaul.  The 
divine  inspiration,  whether  it  was  conveyed  in  the 
form  of  a  waking  or  of  a  sleeping  vision,  is  described 
as  a  favour  very  liberally  bestowed  on  all  ranks  of 
the  faithful,  on  women  as  on  elders,  on  boys  as  well 
as  upon  bishops.  \Vhen  their  devout  minds  were 
sufficiently  prepared  by  a  course  of  prayer,  of  fasting, 
and  of  vigils,  to  receive  the  extraordinary  impulse, 
they  were  transported  out  of  their  senses,  and  delivered 
in  extasy  what  was  inspired,  being  mere  organs  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  just  as  a  pipe  or  flute  is  of  him  who  blows 
into  it.  We  may  add  that  the  design  of  these  visions 
was,  for  the  most  part,  either  to  disclose  the  future 
history,  or  to  guide  the  present  administration,  of  the 
church.  The  expulsion  of  the  daemons  from  the 
bodies  of  those  unhappy  persons  whom  they  had  been 
permitted  to  torment  was  considered  as  a  signal, 
though  ordinary,  triumph  of  religion,  and  is  re- 
peatedly alleged  by  the  ancient  apologists  as  the  most 
convincing  evidence  of  the  truth  of  Christianity.  The 
awful  ceremony  was  usually  performed  in  a  public 
manner,  and  in  the  presence  of  a  great  number  of 
spectators  ;  the  patient  was  relieved  by  the  power  or 
skill  of  the  exorcist,  and  the  vanquished  daemon  was 
heard  to  confess  that  he  was  one  of  the  fabled  gods  of 
antiquity,  who  had  impiously  usurped  the  adoration  of 
mankind.  But  the  miraculous  cure  of  diseases,  of  the 
most  inveterate  or  even  praeternatural  kind,  can  no 
longer  occasion  any  surprise,  when  we  recollect  that 
in  the  days  of  Irenaeus,  about  the  end  of  the  second 
century,  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  was  very  far 
from  being  esteemed  an  uncommon  event ;  that  the 
miracle  was  frequently  performed  on  necessary  occa- 


OF   THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  33 

sioDSj  by  great  fasting  and  the  joint  supplication  of 
the  church  of  the  place,  and  that  the  persons  thus  re- 
stored to  their  prayers  had  lived  afterwards  among 
them  many  years.  At  such  a  period^  when  faith  could 
boast  of  so  many  wonderful  victories  over  deaths  it 
seems  difficult  to  account  for  the  scepticism  of  those 
philosophers  who  still  rejected  and  derided  the  doctrine 
of  the  resurrection.  A  noble  Grecian  had  rested  on 
this  important  ground  the  whole  controversy^  and 
promised  Theophilus^,  bishop  of  Antioch,  that_,  if  he 
could  be  gratified  with  the  sight  of  a  single  person 
who  had  been  actually  raised  from  the  dead,  he  would 
immediately  embrace  the  Christian  religion.  It  is 
somewhat  remarkable  that  the  prelate  of  the  first 
eastern  church,  however  anxious  for  the  conversion 
of  his  friend_,  thought  proper  to  decline  this  fair  and 
reasonable  challenge. 

The  miracles  of  the  primitive  church,  after  obtaining 
the  sanction  of  ages,  have  been  lately  attacked  in  a 
very  free  and  ingenious  inquiry  ;  ^  which,  though  it 
has  met  with  the  most  favourable  reception  from  the 
Public,  appears  to  have  excited  a  general  scandal 
among  the  divines  of  our  own  as  well  as  of  the  other 
Protestant  churches  of  Europe.*^  Our  different  senti- 
ments on  this  subject  will  be  much  less  influenced  by 
any  particular  arguments  than  by  our  habits  of  study 
and  reflection  ;  and,  above  all,  by  the  degree  of  the 
evidence  which  we  have  accustomed  ourselves  to  re- 
quire for  the  proof  of  a  miraculous  event.  The  duty 
of  an  historian  does  not  call  upon  him  to  interpose  his 
private  judgment  in  this  nice  and  important  contro- 
versy ;  but  he  ought  not  to  dissemble  the  difficulty  of 
adopting  such  a  theory  as  may  reconcile  the  interest 
of  religion  with  that  of  reason,  of  making  a  proper 

33  Dr.  Middleton  sent  out  his  Introduction  in  the  year  1747, 
published  his  Free  Inquiry  in  1749,  and  before  his  death,  which 
happened  in  1750,  he  had  prepared  a  vindication  of  it  against 
his  numerous  adversaries. 

•^  The  university  of  Oxford  conferred  degrees  on  his  oppo- 
nents. From  the  indignation  of  Mosheim  (p.  221),  we  may 
discover  the  sentiments  of  Lutheran  divines. 

VOL.  II.  B 


34  THE   DECLINE   AND  FALL 

application  of  that  theory,  and  of  defining  with  pre- 
cision the  limits  of  that  happy  period,  exempt  from 
error  and  from  deceit,  to  which  we  might  be  disposed 
to  extend  the  gift  of  supernatural  powers.  From  the 
first  of  the  fathers  to  the  last  of  the  popes,  a  succession 
of  bishops,  of  saints,  of  martyrs,  and  of  miracles  is 
continued  without  interruption,  and  the  progress  of 
superstition  was  so  gradual  and  almost  imperceptible 
that  we  know  not  in  what  particular  link  we  should 
break  the  chain  of  tradition.  Every  age  bears  testi- 
mony to  the  wonderful  events  by  which  it  was  distin- 
guished, and  its  testimony  appears  no  less  weighty  and 
respectable  than  that  of  the  preceding  generation,  till 
we  are  insensibly  led  on  to  accuse  our  own  incoosis- 
tency_,  if  in  the  eighth  or  in  the  twelfth  century  we 
deny  to  the  venerable  Bede,  or  to  the  holy  Bernard, 
the  same  degree  of  confidence  which,  in  the  second 
century,  we  had  so  liberally  granted  to  Justin  or  to 
Irenseus.'*^  If  the  truth  of  any  of  those  miracles  is 
appreciated  by  their  apparent  use  and  propriety,  every 
age  had  unbelievers  to  convince,  heretics  to  confute, 
and  idolatrous  nations  to  convert ;  and  sufficient 
motives  might  always  be  produced  to  justify  the  inter- 
position of  Heaven.  And  yet,  since  every  friend  to 
revelation  is  persuaded  of  the  reality,  and  every  reason- 
able man  is  convinced  of  the  cessation,  of  miraculous 
powers,  it  is  evident  that  there  must  have  been  some 
period  in  which  they  were  either  suddenly  or  gradually 
withdrawn  from  the  Christian  church.  Whatever  aera 
is  chosen  for  that  purpose,  the  death  of  the  apostles, 
the  conversion  of  the  Roman  empire,  or  the  extinction 
of  the  Arian  heresy,^  the  insensibility  of  the  Christians 

^  It  may  seem  somewhat  remarkable  that  Bernard  of  Clair- 
vaux,  who  records  so  many  miracles  of  his  friend  St.  Malachi, 
never  takes  any  notice  of  his  own,  which,  in  their  turn,  how- 
ever, are  carefully  related  by  his  companions  and  disciples.  In 
the  long  series  of  ecclesiastical  history,  does  there  exist  a  single 
instance  of  a  saint  asserting  that  he  himself  possessed  the  gift 
of  miracles  ? 

43  The  conversion  of  Constantine  is  the  asra  which  is  most 
usually  fixed  by  Protestants,      The  more  rational  divines  are 


OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE.  36 

who  lived  at  that  time  will  equally  afford  a  just  matter 
of  surprise.  They  still  supported  their  pretensions 
after  they  had  lost  their  power.  Credulity  performed 
the  office  of  faith  ;  fanaticism  was  permitted  to  assume 
the  language  of  inspiration,  and  the  elfects  of  accident 
or  contrivance  were  ascribed  to  supernatural  causes. 
The  recent  experience  of  genuine  miracles  should  have 
instructed  the  Christian  world  in  the  ways  of  Provi- 
dence, and  habituated  their  eye  (if  we  may  use  a  very 
inadequate  expression)  to  the  style  of  the  divine  artist. 
Should  the  most  skilful  painter  of  modern  Italy  pre- 
sume to  decorate  his  feeble  imitations  with  the  name 
of  Raphael  or  of  Correggio,  the  insolent  fraud  would 
be  soon  discovered  and  indignantly  rejected. 

Whatever  opinion  may  be  entertained  of  the  miracles 
of  the  primitive  church  since  the  time  of  the  apostles, 
this  unresisting  softness  of  temper,  so  conspicuous 
among  the  believers  of  the  second  and  third  centuries, 
proved  of  some  accidental  benefit  to  the  cause  of  truth 
and  religion.  In  modern  times,  a  latent,  and  even 
involuntary,  scepticism  adheres  to  the  most  pious  dis- 
positions. Their  admission  of  supernatural  truths  is 
much  less  an  active  consent  than  a  cold  and  passive 
acquiescence.  Accustomed  long  since  to  observe  and 
to  respect  the  invariable  order  of  Naturp,  our  reason, 
or  at  least  our  imagination,  is  not  sufficiently  prepared 
to  sustain  the  visible  action  of  the  Deity.  But,  in  the 
first  ages  of  Christianity,  the  situation  of  mankind  was 
extremely  different.  The  most  curious,  or  the  most 
credulous,  among  the  Pagans  were  often  persuaded  to 
enter  into  a  society  which  asserted  an  actual  claim  of 
miraculous  powers.  The  primitive  Christians  per- 
petually trod  on  mystic  ground,  and  their  minds  were 
exercised  by  the  habits  of  believing  the  most  extra- 
ordinary events.  They  felt,  or  they  fancied,  that  on 
©very  side  they  were  incessantly  assaulted  by  daemons, 
comforted  by  visions,  instructed  by  prophecy,  and 
surprisingly  delivered  from  danger,  sickness,  and  from 

unwilling  to  admit  the  miracles  of  the  fourth,  whilst  the  more 
credulous  are  unwilling  to  reject  those  of  the  fifth  century. 


36  THE  DECLINE  AND   FALL 

death  itself,  by  the  supplications  of  the  church.  The 
real  or  imaginary  prodigies,  of  which  they  so  frequently 
conceived  themselves  to  be  the  objects,  the  instruments, 
or  the  spectators,  very  happily  disposed  them  to  adopt, 
with  the  same  ease,  but  with  far  greater  justice,  the 
authentic  wonders  of  the  evangelic  history ;  and  thus 
miracles  that  exceeded  not  the  measure  of  their  own 
experience  inspired  them  with  the  most  lively  assurance 
of  mysteries  which  were  acknowledged  to  surpass  the 
limits  of  their  understanding.  It  is  this  deep  impres- 
sion of  supernatural  truths  which  has  been  so  much 
celebrated  under  the  name  of  faith ;  a  state  of  mind 
described  as  the  surest  pledge  of  the  divine  favour  and 
of  future  felicity,  and  recommended  as  the  first  or 
perhaps  the  only  merit  of  a  Christian.  According  to 
the  more  rigid  doctors,  the  moral  virtues,  which  may 
be  equally  practised  by  infidels,  are  destitute  of  any 
value  or  efficacy  in  the  work  of  our  justification. 

IV.  But  the  primitive  Christian  demonstrated  his 
faith  by  his  virtues ;  and  it  was  very  justly  supposed 
that  the  divine  persuasion,  which  enlightened  or  sub- 
dued the  understanding,  must,  at  the  same  time,  purify 
the  heart,  and  direct  the  actions,  of  the  believer.  The 
first  apologists  of  Christianity  who  justify  the  innocence 
of  their  brethren,  and  the  writers  of  a  later  period  who 
celebrate  the  sanctity  of  their  ancestors,  display,  in 
the  most  lively  colours,  the  reformation  of  manners 
which  was  introduced  into  the  world  by  the  preaching 
of  the  gospel^  As  it  is  my  intention  to  remark  only 
such  human  causes  as  were  permitted  to  second  the 
influence  of  revelation,  I  shall  slightly  mention  two 
motives  which  might  naturally  render  the  lives  of  the 
primitive  Christians  much  purer  and  more  austere  than 
those  of  their  Pagan  contemporaries,  or  their  degene- 
rate successors ;  repentance  for  their  past  sins,  and  tlie 
laudable  desire  of  supporting  the  reputation  of  the 
society  in  which  they  were  engaged. 

It  is  a  very  ancient  reproach,  suggested  by  the  ignor- 
ance or  the  malice  of  infidelity,  that  the  Christians 
allured  into  their  party  the  most  atrocious  criminals,. 


OF   THE   ROMAN  ExMPIRE  37 

wlio,  as  soon  as  they  were  touched  by  a  sense  of  re- 
morse, were  easily  persuaded  to  wash  away,  in  the 
water  of  baptism,  the  guilt  of  their  past  conduct,  for 
which  the  temples  of  the  gods  refused  to  grant  them 
any  expiation.  But  this  reproach,  when  it  is  cleared 
from  misrepresentation,  contributes  as  much  to  the 
honour  as  it  did  to  the  increase  of  the  church.  The 
friends  of  Christianity  may  acknowledge  without  a 
blush  that  many  of  the  most  eminent  saints  had  been 
before  their  baptism  the  most  abandoned  sinners. 
Those  persons  who  in  the  world  had  followed,  though 
in  an  imperfect  manner,  the  dictates  of  benevolence 
and  propriety,  derived  such  a  calm  satisfaction  from 
the  opinion  of  their  own  rectitude,  as  rendered  them 
much  less  susceptible  of  the  sudden  emotions  of  shame, 
of  grief,  and  of  terror,  which  have  given  birth  to  so 
many  wonderful  conversions.  After  the  example  of 
their  Divine  Master,  the  missionaries  of  the  gospel 
disdained  not  the  society  of  men,  and  especially  of 
women,  oppressed  by  the  consciousness,  and  very  often 
by  the  effects,  of  their  vices.  As  they  emerged  from 
sin  and  superstition  to  the  glorious  hope  of  immortality, 
they  resolved  to  devote  themselves  to  a  life,  not  only 
of  virtue,  but  of  penitence.  The  desire  of  perfection 
became  the  ruling  passion  of  their  soul ;  and  it  is  well 
known  that,  while  reason  embraces  a  cold  mediocrity, 
our  passions  hurry  us,  with  rapid  violence,  over  the 
space  which  lies  between  the  most  opposite  extremes. 

When  the  new  converts  had  been  enrolled  in  the 
number  of  the  faithful  and  were  admitted  to  the  sacra- 
ments of  the  church,  they  found  themselves  restrained 
from  relapsing  into  their  past  disorders  by  another 
consideration  of  a  less  spiritual,  but  of  a  very  innocent 
and  respectable  nature.  Any  particular  society  that 
has  departed  from  the  great  body  of  the  nation  or  the 
religion  to  which  it  belonged  immediately  becomes  the 
object  of  universal  as  well  as  invidious  observation. 
In  proportion  to  the  smallness  of  its  numbers,  the 
character  of  the  society  may  be  affected  by  the  virtue 
and  vices  of  the  persons  who  compose  it ;  and  every 


38  THE  DECLINE   AND   FALL 

member  is  engaged  to  watch  with  the  most  vigilant 
attention  over  his  own  behaviour  and  over  that  of  his 
brethren,  since,  as  he  must  expect  to  incur  a  part  of 
the  common  disgrace,  he  may  hope  to  enjoy  a  share 
of  the  common  reputation.  When  the  Christians 
of  Bithynia  were  brought  before  the  tribunal  of  the 
younger  Pliny,  they  assured  the  proconsul  that,  far 
from  being  engaged  in  any  unlawful  conspiracy,  they 
were  bound  by  a  solemn  obligation  to  abstain  from  the 
commission  of  those  crimes  which  disturb  the  private 
or  public  peace  of  society,  from  theft,  robbery, 
adultery,  perjury,  and  fraud.  Near  a  century  after- 
wards, Tertullian,  with  an  honest  pride,  could  boast 
that  very  few  Christians  had  suffered  by  the  hand  of 
the  executioner,  except  on  account  of  their  religion. 
Their  serious  and  sequestered  life,  averse  to  the  gay 
luxury  of  the  age,  insured  them  to  chastity,  tem- 
perance, economy,  and  all  the  sober  and  domestic 
virtues.  As  the  greater  number  were  of  some  trade 
or  profession,  it  was  incumbent,  on  them,  by  the 
strictest  integrity  and  the  fairest  dealing,  to  remove 
the  suspicions  which  the  profane  are  too  apt  to  con- 
ceive against  the  appearances  of  sanctity.  The  con- 
tempt of  the  world  exercised  them  in  the  habits  of 
humility,  meekness,  and  patience.  The  more  they 
were  persecuted,  the  more  closely  they  adhered  to 
each  other.  Their  mutual  charity  and  unsuspecting 
confidence  has  been  remarked  by  infidels,  and  was  too 
often  abused  by  perfidious  friends.  ^^ 

It  is  a  very  honourable  circumstance  for  the  morals 
of  the  primitive  Christians,  that  even  their  faults,  or 
rather  eiTors,  were  derived  from  an  excess  of  virtue.  The 
bishops  and  doctors  of  the  church,  whose  evidence 
attests,  and  whose  authority  might  influence,  the  pro- 
fessions, the  principles,  and  even  the  practice,  of  their 
contemporaries,  had  studied  the  scriptures  with  less 
skill  than  devotion,  and  they  often  received,  in  the  most 

43  The  philosopher  Peregrinus  (of  whose  hfe  and  death  Lucian 
has  left  us  so  entertaining- an  account)  imposed,  for  a  long  time, 
on  the  credulous  simplicity  of  the  Christians  of  Asia. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  39 

literal  sense,  those  rigid  precepts  of  Christ  and  the 
apostles  to  which  the  prudence  of  succeeding  com- 
mentators has  applied  a  looser  and  more  figurative 
mode  of  interpretation.  Ambitious  to  exalt  the  per- 
fection of  the  gospel  above  the  wisdom  of  philosophy, 
the  zealous  fathers  have  carried  the  duties  of  self- 
mortification,  of  purity,  and  of  patience,  to  a  height 
which  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  attain,  and  much  less 
to  preserve,  in  our  present  state  of  weakness  and 
corruption.  A  doctrine  so  extraordinary  and  so  sub- 
lime must  inevitably  command  the  veneration  of  the 
people  ;  but  it  was  ill  calculated  to  obtain  the  sufi*rage 
of  those  worldly  philosophers  who,  in  the  conduct  of 
this  transitory  life,  consult  only  the  feelings  of  nature 
and  the  interest  of  society. 

There  are  two  very  natural  propensities  which  we 
may  distinguish  in  the  most  virtuous  and  liberal 
dispositions,  the  love  of  pleasure  and  the  love  of  action. 
If  the  former  be  refined  by  art  and  learning,  improved 
by  the  charms  of  social  intercourse,  and  corrected  by 
a  just  regard  to  economy,  to  health,  and  to  reputation, 
it  is  productive  of  the  greatest  part  of  the  happiness 
of  private  life.  The  love  of  action  is  a  principle  of  a 
much  stronger  and  more  doubtful  nature.  It  often 
leads  to  anger,  to  ambition,  and  to  revenge';  but,  when 
it  is  guided  by  the  sense  of  propriety  and  benevolence, 
it  becomes  the  parent  of  every  virtue  ;  and,  if  those 
virtues  are  accompanied  with  equal  abilities,  a  family, 
a  state,  or  an  empire  may  be  indebted  for  their  sarfety 
and  prosperity  to  the  undaunted  courage  of  a  single 
man.  To  the  love  of  pleasure  we  may  therefore  ascribe 
most  of  the  agreeable,  to  the  love  of  action  we  may 
attribute  most  of  the  useful  and  respectable  qualifica- 
tions. The  character  in  which  both  the  one  and  the 
other  should  be  united  and  harmonised  would  seem  to 
constitute  the  most  perfect  idea  of  human  nature. 
The  insensible  and  inactive  disposition,  which  should 
be  supposed  alike  destitute  of  both,  would  be  rejected, 
by  the  common  consent  of  mankind,  as  utterly  incap- 
able of  procuring  any  happiness  to  the  individual,  or 


40  THE  DECLINE  AND  FALL 

any  public  benefit  to  the  world.  But  it  was  not  in 
this  world  that  the  primitive  Christians  were  desirous 
of  making  themselves  either  agreeable  or  useful. 
,  The  acquisition  of  knowledge^  the  exercise  of  our 
reason  or  fancy,  and  the  cheerful  flow  of  unguarded 
conversation,  may  employ  the  leisure  of  a  liberal  mind. 
Such  amusements,  however,  were  rejected  with  abhor- 
rence, or  admitted  with  the  utmost  caution,  by  the 
severity  of  the  fathers,  who  despised  all  knowledge 
that  was  not  useful  to  salvation,  and  who  considered 
all  levity  of  discourse  as  a  criminal  abuse  of  the  gift 
of  speech.  In  our  present  state  of  existence,  the  body 
is  so  inseparably  connected  with  the  soul  that  it  seems 
to  be  our  interest  to  taste,  with  innocence  and  modera- 
tion, the  enjoyments  of  which  that  faithful  companion 
is  susceptible.  Very  different  was  the  reasoning  of 
our  devout  predecessors  ;  vainly  aspiring  to  imitate  the 
perfection  of  angels,  they  disdained,  or  they  affected 
to  disdain,  every  earthly  and  corporeal  delight.  Some 
of  our  senses  indeed  are  necessary  for  our  preservation, 
others  for  our  subsistence,  and  others  again  for  our 
information,  and  thus  far  it  was  impossible  to  reject 
the  use  of  them.  The  first  sensation  of  pleasure  was 
marked  as  the  first  moment  of  their  abuse.  The  un- 
feeling candidate  for  Heaven  was  instructed,  not  only 
to  resist  the  grosser  allurements  of  the  taste  or  smell, 
but  even  to  shut  his  ears  against  the  profane  harmony 
of  sounds,  and  to  view  with  indifference  the  most 
finished  productions  of  human  art.  Gay  apparel,  mag- 
nificent houses,  and  elegant  furniture  were  supposed 
to  unite  the  double  guilt  of  pride  and  of  sensuality  :  a 
simple  and  mortified  appearance  was  more  suitable  to 
the  Christian  who  was  certain  of  his  sins  and  doubtful 
of  his  salvation.  In  their  censures  of  luxury,  the 
fathers  are  extremely  minute  and  circumstantial ;  and 
among  the  various  articles  which  excite  their  pious 
indignation,  we  may  enumerate  false  hair,  garments 
of  any  colour  except  white,  instruments  of  music, 
vases  of  gold  or  silver,  downy  pillows  (as  Jacob  reposed 
his  head  oh  a  stone),  white  bread,  foreign  wines,  public 


OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE  41 

salutations^  the  use  of  warm  baths,  and  the  practice  of 
shaving  the  beard,  which,  according-  to  the  expression 
of  Tertullian,  is  a  lie  against  our  own  faces,  and  an 
impious  attempt  to  improve  the  works  of  the  Creator. 
When  Christianity  was  introduced  among  the  rich  and 
the  polite,  the  observation  of  these  singular  laws  was 
left,  as  it  would  be  at  present,  to  the  few  who  were 
ambitious  of  superior  sanctity.  But  it  is  always  easy, 
as  well  as  agreeable,  for  the  inferior  ranks  of  mankind 
to  claim  a  merit  from  the  contempt  of  that  pomp  and 
pleasure,  which  fortune  has  placed  beyond  their  reach. 
The  virtue  of  the  primitive  Christians,  like  that  of  the 
first  Romans,  was  very  frequently  guarded  by  poverty 
and  ignorance. 

The  chaste  severity  of  the  fathers,  in  whatever  related 
to  the  commerce  of  the  two  sexes,  flowed  from  the  same 
principle  ;  their  abhorrence  of  every  enjoyment  which 
might  gratify  the  sensual,  and  degrade  the  spiritual, 
nature  of  man.  It  was  their  favourite  opinion  that,  if 
Adam  had  preserved  his  obedience  to  the  Creator,  he 
would  have  lived  for  ever  in  a  state  of  virgin  purity, 
and  that  some  harmless  mode  of  vegetation  might  have 
peopled  paradise  with  a  race  of  innocent  and  immortal 
beings.  The  use  of  marriage  was  permitted  only  to 
his  fallen  posterity,  as  a  necessary  expedient  to  con- 
tinue the  human  species,  and  as  a  restraint,  however 
imperfect,  on  the  natural  licentiousness  of  desire.  The 
hesitation  of  the  orthodox  casuists  on  this  interesting 
subject  betrays  the  perplexity  of  men,  unwilling  to 
approve  an  institution  which  they  were  compelled  to 
tolerate.*^  The  enumeration  of  the  very  whimsical 
laws,  which  they  most  circumstantially  imposed  on  the 
marriage-bed,  would  force  a  smile  from  the  young, 
and  a  blush  from  the  fair.  It  was  their  unanimous 
sentiment  that  a  first  marriage  was  adequate  to  all  the 
purposes  of  nature  and  of  society.  The  sensual  connec- 
tion was  refined  into  a  resemblance  of  the  mystic  union 
of  Christ  with  his  church,  and  was  pronounced  to  be 

^  Some  of  the  Gnostic  heretics  were  more  consistent ;  they 
rejected  the  use  of  marriage. 

VOL.  II.  B  2 


42  THE  DECLINE   AND  FALL 

indissoluble  either  by  divorce  or  by  death.  The  prac- 
tice of  second  nuptials  was  branded  with  the  name  of 
a  legal  adultery  ;  and  the  persons  who  were  guilty  of 
so  scandalous  an  offence  against  Christian  purity  were 
soon  excluded  from  the  honours,  and  even  from  the 
alms,  of  the  church.  Since  desire  was  imputed  as  a 
crime,  and  marriage  was  tolerated  as  a  defect,  it  was 
consistent  with  the  same  principles  to  consider  a  state 
of  celibacy  as  the  nearest  approach  to  the  divine  per- 
fection. It  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  that  ancient 
Rome  could  support  the  institution  of  six  vestals  ;  ^ 
but  the  primitive  church  was  filled  with  a  great  number 
of  persons  of  either  sex  who  had  devoted  themselves  to 
the  profession  of  perpetual  chastity.  A  few  of  these, 
among  whom  we  may  reckon  the  learned  Origen, 
judged  it  the  most  prudent  to  disarm  the  tempter.*^ 
Some  were  insensible  and  some  were  invincible  against 
the  assaults  of  the  flesh.  Disdaining  an  ignominious 
flight,  the  virgins  of  the  warm  climate  of  Africa  en- 
countered the  enemy  in  the  closest  engagement ;  they 
permitted  priests  and  deacons  to  share  their  bed,  and 
gloried  amidst  the  flames  in  their  unsullied  purity. 
But  insulted  Nature  sometimes  vindicated  her  rights, 
and  this  new  species  of  martyrdom  served  only  to  in- 
troduce a  new  scandal  into  the  church.  *'^  Among  the 
Christian  ascetics,  however  (a  name  which  they  soon 
acquired  from  their  painful  exercise),  many,  as  they 
were  less  presumptuous,  were  probably  more  success- 
ful.    The  loss  of  sensual  pleasure  was  supplied  and 

^  Notwithstanding  the  honours  and  rewards  which  were  be- 
stowed on  those  virgins,  it  was  difficult  to  procure  a  sufficient 
number  ;  nor  could  the  dread  of  the  most  horrible  death  always 
restrain  their  incontinence. 

•*6  Before  the  fame  of  Origen  had  excited  envy  and  persecu- 
tion, this  extraordinary  action  was  rather  admired  than  censured. 
As  it  was  his  general  practice  to  allegorise  scripture,  it  seems 
unfortunate  that,  in  this  instance  only,  he  should  have  adopted 
the  literal  sense. 

47  Something  like  this  rash  attempt  was  long  afterwards  im- 
puted to  the  founder  of  the  order  of  Fonlevrauli.  Bayle  has 
amused  himself  and  his  readers  on  that  very  delicate  subject. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  43 

compensated  by  spiritual  pride.  Even  the  multitude 
of  Pagans  were  inclined  to  estimate  the  merit  of  the 
sacrifice  by  its  apparent  difficulty  ;  and  it  was  in  the 
praise  of  these  chaste  spouses  of  Christ  that  the  fathers 
have  poured  forth  the  troubled  stream  of  their  elo- 
quence. Such  are  the  early  traces  of  monastic  prin- 
ciples and  institutions  which^  in  a  subsequent  age, 
have  counterbalanced  all  the  temporal  advantages  of 
Christianity.'^ 

The  Christians  were  not  less  averse  to  the  business 
than  to  the  pleasures  of  this  world.  The  defence  of 
our  persons  and  property  they  knew  not  how  to  recon- 
cile with  the  patient  doctrine  which  enjoined  an  un- 
limited forgiveness  of  past  injuries  and  commanded 
them  to  invite  the  repetition  of  fresh  insults.  Their 
simplicity  was  offended  by  the  use  of  oaths,  by  the 
pomp  of  magistracy,  and  by  the  active  contention  of 
public  life,  nor  could  their  humane  ignorance  be  con- 
vinced that  it  was  lawful  on  any  occasion  to  shed  the 
blood  of  our  fellow-creatures,  either  by  the  sword  of 
justice  or  by  that  of  war ;  even  though  their  criminal 
or  hostile  attempts  should  threaten  the  peace  and 
safety  of  the  whole  community.*^  It  was  acknowledged 
that,  under  a  less  perfect  law,  the  powers  of  the  Jewish 
constitution  had  been  exercised,  with  the  approbation 
of  Heaven,  by  inspired  prophets  and  by  anointed  kings. 
The  Christians  felt  and  confessed  that  such  institutions 
might  be  necessary  for  the  present  system  of  the  world, 
and  they  cheerfully  submitted  to  the  authority  of  their 
Pagan  governors.  But,  while  they  inculcated  the 
maxims  of  passive  obedience,  they  refused  to  take 
any  active  part  in  the  civil  administration  or  the 
military  defence  of  the  empire.  Some  indulgence 
might  perhaps  be  allowed  to  those  persons  who,  before 

^  The  Ascetics  (as  early  as  the  second  century)  made  a  public 
profession  of  mortifying  their  bodies,  and  of  abstaining  from  the 
use  of  flesh  and  wine. 

49  The  same  patient  principles  have  been  revived  since  the 
Reformation  by  the  Socinians,  the  modern  Anabaptists,  and 
the  Quakers.  ^ 


44  THE  DECLINE  AND   FALL 

their  conversion^  were  already  engag-ed  in  such  violent 
and  sanguinary  occupations ;  but  it  was  impossible 
that  the  Christians_,  without  renouncing  a  more  sacred 
duty,  could  assume  the  character  of  soldiers,  of  magi- 
strates, or  of  princes. ^*^  This  indolent,  or  even 
criminal,  disregard  to  the  public  welfare  exposed  them 
to  the  contempt  and  reproaches  of  the  Pagans,  who 
very  frequently  asked.  What  must  be  the  fate  of  the 
empire,  attacked  on  every  side  by  the  barbarians,  if  ail 
mankind  should  adopt  the  pusillanimous  sentiments  of 
the  new  sect?^^  To  this  insulting  question  the  Chris- 
tian apologists  returned  obscure  and  ambiguous  answers,, 
as  they  were  unwilling  to  reveal  the  secret  cause  of 
their  security  ;  the  expectation  that,  before  the  con- 
version of  mankind  was  accomplished,  war,  govern- 
ment, the  Roman  empire  and  the  world  itself  would 
be  no  more.  It  may  be  observed  that,  in  this  in- 
stance likewise,  the  situation  of  the  first  Christians 
coincided  very  happily  with  their  religious  scruples, 
and  that  their  aversion  to  an  active  life  contri- 
buted rather  to  excuse  them  from  the  service,  than 
to  exclude  them  from  the  honours,  of  the  state  and 
army. 

V.  But  the  human  character,  however  it  may  be 
exalted  or  depressed  by  a  temporary  enthusiasm,  will 
return,  by  degrees,  to  its  proper  and  natural  level, 
and  will  resume  those  passions  that  seem  the  most 
adapted  to  its  present  condition.  The  primitive 
Christians  were  dead  to  the  business  and  pleasures  of 
the  world  ;  but  their  love  of  action,  which  could  never 
be  entirely  extinguished,  soon  revived,  and  found  a 
new  occupation  in  the  government  of  the  church.  A 
separate  society,   which  attacked  the  established  re- 

50  Tertullian  (De  Corona  Militis,  c.  ii)  suggests  to  them  the 
expedient  of  deserting;  a  counsel  which,  if  it  had  been  gene- 
rally known,  was  not  very  proper  to  conciliate  the  favour  of  the 
emperors  tov/ards  the  Christian  sect. 

51  As  well  as  we  can  judge  from  the  mutilated  representation 
of  Origen  (1.  viii.  p.  423),  his  adversary,  Celsus,  had  urged  bis 
objection  with  great  force  and  candour. 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  45 

iigion  of  the  empire,  was  obliged  to  adopt  some  form 
of  internal  policy,  and  to  appoint  a  sufficient  number 
of  ministers,  intrusted  not  only  with  the  spiritual 
functions,  but  even  with  the  temporal  direction,  of  the 
Christian  commonwealth.  The  safety  of  that  society, 
its  honour,  its  aggrandisement,  were  productive,  even 
in  the  most  pious  minds,  of  a  spirit  of  patriotism,  such 
as  the  first  of  the  Romans  had  felt  for  the  republic, 
and  sometimes,  of  a  similar  indifference  in  the  use  of 
whatever  means  might  probably  conduce  to  so  desir- 
able an  end.  The  ambition  of  raising  themselves  or 
their  friends  to  the  honours  and  offices  of  the  church 
was  disguised  by  the  laudable  intention  of  devoting  to 
the  public  benefit  the  power  and  consideration  which, 
for  that  purpose  only,  it  became  their  duty  to  solicit. 
In  the  exercise  of  their  functions,  they  were  frequently 
called  upon  to  detect  the  errors  of  heresy,  or  the  arts 
of  faction,  to  oppose  the  designs  of  perfidious  brethren, 
to  stigmatise  their  characters  with  deserved  infamy, 
and  to  expel  them  from  the  bosom  of  a  society  whose 
peace  and  happiness  they  had  attempted  to  disturb. 
The  ecclesiastical  governors  of  the  Christians  were 
taught  to  unite  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent  with  the 
innocence  of  the  dove ;  but,  as  the  former  was  re- 
fined, so  the  latter  was  insensibly  corrupted,  by  the 
habits  of  government.  In  the  church  as  well  as  in 
the  world  the  persons  who  were  placed  in  any  public 
station  rendered  themselves  considerable  by  their 
eloquence  and  firmness,  by  their  knowledge  of  man- 
kind, and  by  their  dexterity  in  business  ;  and,  while 
they  concealed  from  others,  and,  perhaps,  from  them- 
selves, the  secret  motives  of  their  conduct,  they  too 
frequently  relapsed  into  all  the  turbulent  passions  of 
active  life,  which  were  tinctured  with  an  additional 
degree  of  bitterness  and  obstinacy  from  the  infusion  of 
spiritual  zeal. 

The  government  of  the  church  has  often  been  the 
subject,  as  well  as  the  prize,  of  religious  contention. 
The  hostile  disputants  of  Rome,  of  Paris,  of  Oxford 
and    of  Geneva  have  alike   struggled  to  reduce   the 


46  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

primitive  and  apostolic  modeP^  to  the  respective 
standards  of  their  own  policy.  The  few  who  have 
pursued  this  inquiry  with  more  candour  and  im- 
partiality are  of  opinion  ^^  that  the  apostles  declined 
the  office  of  legislation,  and  rather  chose  to  endure 
some  partial  scandals  and  divisions  than  to'  exclude 
the  Christians  of  a  future  age  from  the  liberty  of 
varying  their  forms  of  ecclesiastical  government  accor- 
ding to  the  changes  of  times  and  circumstances.  The 
scheme  of  policy  which,  under  their  approbation,  was 
adopted  for  the  use  of  the  first  century  may  be  dis- 
covered from  the  practice  of  Jerusalem,  of  Ephesus, 
or  of  Corinth.  The  societies  which  were  instituted  in 
the  cities  of  the  Roman  empire  were  united  only  by 
the  ties  of  faith  and  charity.  Independence  and 
equality  formed  the  basis  of  their  internal  constitution. 
The  want  of  discipline  and  human  learning  was  sup- 
plied by  the  occasional  assistance  of  the  prophets,  who 
were  called  to  that  function,  without  distinction  of 
age,  of  sex,  or  of  natural  abilities,  and  who,  as  often 
as  they  felt  the  divine  impulse,  poured  forth  the 
effusions  of  the  spirit  on  the  assembly  of  the  faithful. 
But  these  extraordinary  gifts  were  frequently  abused 
or  misapplied  by  the  prophetic  teachers.  They  dis- 
played them  at  an  improper  season,  presumptuously 
disturbed  the  service  of  the  assembly,  and  by  their 
pride  or  mistaken  zeal  they  introduced,  particularly 
into  the  apostolic  church  of  Corinth,  a  long  and 
melancholy  train  of  disorders.  As  the  institution  of 
prophets  became  useless,  and  even  pernicious,  their 
powers  were  withdrawn  and  their  office  abolished. 
The  public  functions  of  religion  were  solely  intrusted 
to  the  established  ministers  of  the  church,  the  bishops 
and  the  presbyters;  two  appellations  which,  in  their 

52  The  aristocratical  party  in  France,  as  well  as  in  England, 
has  strenuously  maintained  the  divine  origin  of  bishops.  But 
the  Calvinistical  presbyters  were  impatient  of  a  superior ;  and 
the  Roman  Pontiff  refused  to  acknowledge  an  equal. 

63  In  the  history  of  the  Christian  hierarchy,  I  have,  for  the 
most  part,  followed  the  learned  and  candid  Mosheim, 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  47 

first  origin,  appear  to  have  distinguished  the  same  office 
and  the  same  order  of  persons.  The  name  of  Presbyter 
was  expressive  of  their  age,  or  rather  of  their  gravityand 
wisdom.  The  title  of  Bishop  denoted  their  inspection 
over  the  faith  and  manners  of  the  Christians  who  were 
committed  to  their  pastoral  care.  In  proportion  to  the 
respective  numbers  of  the  faithful,  a  larger  or  smaller 
number  of  these  episcopal  presbyters  guided  each  in- 
fant congregation  with  equal  authority  and  with  united 
councils. 

But  the  most  perfect  equality  of  freedom  requires 
the  directing  hand  of  a  superior  magistrate  ;  and  the 
order  of  public  deliberations  soon  introduces  the  office 
of  a  president,  invested  at  least  with  the  authority  of 
collecting  the  sentiments,  and  of  executing  the  resolu- 
tions, of  the  assembly.  A  regard  for  the  public  tran- 
quillity, which  would  so  frequently  have  been  interrupted 
by  annual  or  by  occasional  elections,  induced  the 
primitive  Christians  to  constitute  an  honourable  and 
perpetual  magistracy,  and  to  choose  one  of  the  wisest 
and  most  holy  amougitheir  presb\i;ers  to  execute,  during 
his  life,  the  duties  of  their  ecclesiastical  governor.  It 
was  under  these  circumstances  that  the  lofty  title  of 
Bishop  began  to  raise  itself  above  the  humble  appella- 
tion of  presbyter  ;  and,  while  the  latter  remained  the 
most  natural  distinction  for  the  members  of  every 
Christian  senate,  the  former  was  appropriated  to  the 
dignity  of  its  new  president. °^  Tlie  advantages  of  this 
episcopal  form  of  government,  which  appears  to  have 
been  introduced  before  the  end  of  the  iirst  century,^ 

54  The  ancient  state,  as  it  is  described  by  Jerome,  of  the 
bishop  and  presbyters  of  Alexandria  receives  a  remarkable  con- 
firmation from  the  patriarch  Eutychius  (Annal.  torn.  i.  p.  330, 
Vers.  Pocock),  whose  testimony  I  know  not  how  to  reject,  in 
spite  of  all  the  objections  of  the  learned  Pearson  in  his  Vindiciae 
Ignatianse,  part  i.  c.  11. 

55  See  the  introduction  to  the  Apocalypse.  Bishops,  under 
the  name  of  angels,  were  already  instituted  in  seven  cities  of 
Asia.  And  yet  the  epistle  of  Clemens  (which  is  probably  of  as 
ancient  a  date)  does  not  lead  us  to  discover  any  traces  of 
episcopacy  either  at  Corinth  or  Rome. 


48  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

were  so  obvious,  and  so  important  for  the  future 
greatness,  as  well  as  the  present  peace,  of  Christianity, 
that  it  was  adopted  without  delay  by  all  the  societies 
which  were  already  scattered  over  the  empire,  had  ac- 
quired in  a  very  early  period  the  sanction  of  antiquity,^^ 
and  is  still  revered  by  the  most  powerful  churches, 
both  of  the  East  and  of  the  West,  as  a  primitive  and 
even  as  a  divine  establishment. °'^  It  is  needless  to 
observe  that  the  pious  and  humble  presbyters  who 
were  first  dig-nified  with  the  episcopal  title  could  not 
possess,  and  would  probably  have  rejected,  the  power 
and  pomp  which  now  encircles  the  tiara  of  the  Roman 
Pontiff,  or  the  mitre  of  a  German  prelate.  But 
we  may  define,  in  a  few  words,  the  narrow  limits  of 
their  original  jurisdiction,  which  was  chiefly  of  a 
spiritual,  though  in  some  instances  of  a  temporal, 
nature.  It  consisted  in  the  administration  of  the 
sacraments  and  discipline  of  the  church,  the  super- 
intendency  of  religious  ceremonies,  which  imperceptibly 
increased  in  number  and  variety,  the  consecration  of 
ecclesiastical  ministers,  to  whom  the  bishop  assigned 
their  respective  functions,  the  management  of  the 
public  fund,  and  the  determination  of  all  such  differ- 
ences as  the  faithful  were  unwilling  to  expose  before 
the  tribunal  of  an  idolatrous  judge.  These  powers, 
during  a  short  period,  were  exercised  according  to 
the  advice  of  the  presbyteral  college,  and  with  the 
consent  and  approbation  of  the  assembly  of  Chris- 
tians. The  primitive  bishops  were  considered  only 
as  the  first  of  their  equals,  and  the  honourable 
servants  of  a  free  people.  Whenever  the  episcopal 
chair  became  vacant  by  death,  a  new  president  was 
chosen  among  the  presbyters  by  the  suffrage  of  the 
whole    congregation,    every   member   of   which    sup- 

^  Nulla  Ecclesia  sine  Episcopo,  has  been  a  fact  as  well  as  a 
maxim  since  the  time  of  Tertullian  and  Irenaeus, 

57  After  we  have  passed  the  difficulties  of  the  first  century,  we 
find  the  episcopal  government  universally  established,  till  it  was 
interrupted  by  the  republican  genius  of  the  Swiss  and  German 
reformers. 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  49 

posed  himself  invested  with  a  sacred  aud  sacerdotal 
character. 

Such  was  the  mild  and  equal  constitution  by  which 
the  Christians  were  governed  more  than  a  hundred 
years  after  the  death  of  the  apostles.  Every  society 
formed  within  itself  a  separate  aud  independent  re- 
public :  and,  although  the  most  distant  of  these  little 
states  maintained  a  mutual  as  well  as  friendly  inter- 
course of  letters  and  deputations,  the  Christian  world 
was  not  yet  connected  by  any  supreme  authority  or 
legislative  assembly.  As  the  numbers  of  the  faith- 
ful were  gradually  multiplied,  they  discovered  the 
advantages  that  might  result  from  a  closer  union  of 
their  interest  and  designs.  Towards  the  end  of  the 
second  century,  the  churches  of  Greece  and  Asia 
adopted  the  useful  institutions  of  provincial  synods, 
and  they  may  justly  be  supposed  to  have  borrowed 
the  model  of  a  representative  council  from  the  cele- 
brated examples  of  their  own  country,  the  Amphictyons, 
the  Achaean  league,  or  the  assemblies  of  the  Ionian 
cities.  It  was  soon  established  as  a  custom  and  as  a 
law  that  the  bishops  of  the  independent  churches  should 
meet  in  the  capital  of  the  province  at  the  stated  periods 
of  spring  and  autumn.  Their  deliberations  were 
assisted  by  the  advice  of  a  few  distinguished  presbyters, 
and  moderated  by  the  presence  of  a  listening  multi- 
tude. °*  Their  decrees,  which  were  styled  Canons, 
regulated  every  important  controversy  of  faith  and 
discipline  ;  and  it  was  natural  to  believe  that  a  liberal 
effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit  would  be  poured  on  the 
united  assembly  of  the  delegates  of  the  Christian 
people.  The  institution  of  synods  was  so  well  suited 
to  private  ambition  and  to  public  interest  that  in 
the  space  of  a  few  years  it  was  received  throughout 
the  whole  empire.  A  regular  correspondence  was 
established    between   the    provincial    councils,    which 

5*  This  council  was  composed  of  eighty-seven  bishops  from 
the  provinces  of  Mauritania,  Numidia,  and  Africa ;  some 
presbyters  and  deacons  assisted  at  the  assembly ;  praesente 
plebis  maximi  parte. 


60  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

mutually  communicated  and  approved  their  respective 
proceedings  ;  and  the  Catholic  church  soon  assumed 
the  form,  and  acquired  the  stren^h,  of  a  great 
federative  republic. 

As  the  legislative  authority  of  the  particular  churches 
was  insensibly  superseded  by  the  use  of  councils,  the 
bishops  obtained  by  their  alliance  a  much  larger  share 
of  executive  and  arbitrary  power  ;  and,  as  soon  as 
they  were  connected  by  a  sense  of  their  common 
interest,  they  were  enabled  to  attack,  with  united 
vigour,  the  original  rights  of  their  clergy  and  people. 
The  prelates  of  the  third  century  imperceptibly  changed 
the  language  of  exhortation  into  that  of  command, 
scattered  the  seeds  of  future  usurpations,  and  supplied, 
by  scripture  allegories  and  declamatory  rhetoric,  their 
deficiency  of  force  and  of  reason.  They  exalted  the 
unity  and  power  of  the  church,  as  it  was  represented 
in  the  episcopal  office,  of  which  every  bishop  enjoyed 
an  equal  and  undivided  portion.  Princes  and  magis- 
trates, it  was  often  repeated,  might  boast  an  earthly 
claim  to  a  transitory  dominion  ;  it  was  the  episcopal 
authority  alone  which  was  derived  from  the  Deity,  and 
extended  itself  over  this  and  over  another  world.  The 
bishops  were  the  vicegerents  of  Christ,  the  successors 
of  the  apostles,  and  the  mystic  substitutes  of  the  high 
priest  of  the  Mosaic  law.  Their  exclusive  privilege  of 
conferring  the  sacerdotal  character  invaded  the  freedom 
both  of  clerical  and  of  popular  elections  ;  and  if,  in  the 
administration  of  the  church,  they  still  consulted  the 
judgment  of  the  presbyters  or  the  inclination  of  the 
people,  they  most  carefully  inculcated  the  merit  of 
such  a  voluntary  condescension.  The  bishops  acknow- 
ledged the  supreme  authority  which  resided  in  the 
assembly  of  their  brethren  ;  but,  in  the  government  of 
his  peculiar  diocese,  each  of  them  exacted  from  his 
flock  the  same  implicit  obedience  as  if  that  favourite 
metaphor  had  been  literally  just,  and  as  if  the  shepherd 
had  been  of  a  more  exalted  nature  than  that  of  his 
sheep.  This  obedience,  however,  was  not  imposed 
without  some  efforts  on  one  side,  and  some  resistance 


OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  51 

on  the  other.  The  democratical  part  of  the  consti- 
tution was,  in  many  places,  very  wamily  supported  by 
the  zealous  or  interested  opposition  of  the  inferior 
clergy.  But  their  patriotism  received  the  ignominious 
epithets  of  faction  and  schism  ;  and  the  episcopal  cause 
was  indebted  for  its  rapid  progress  to  the  labours  of 
many  active  prelates,  who,  like  Cyprian  of  Carthage, 
could  reconcile  the  arts  of  the  most  ambitious  states- 
man with  the  Christian  virtues  which  seem  adapted  to 
the  character  of  a  saint  and  martyr.^ 

The  same  causes  which  at  first  had  destroyed  the 
equality  of  the  presbyters  introduced  among  the 
bishops  a  pre-eminence  of  rank,  and  from  thence  a 
superiority  of  jurisdiction.  As  often  as  in  the  spring 
and  autumn  they  met  in  provincial  synod,  the  differ- 
ence of  personal  merit  and  reputation  was  very  sensibly 
felt  among  the  members  of  the  assembly,  and  the 
multitude  was  governed  by  the  wisdom  and  eloquence 
of  the  few.  But  the  order  of  public  proceedings 
required  a  more  regular  and  less  invidious  distinction  ; 
the  office  of  perpetual  presidents  in  the  councils  of 
each  province  was  conferred  on  the  bishops  of  the 
principal  city,  and  these  aspiring  prelates,  who  soon 
acquired  the  lofty  titles  of  Metropolitans  and  Primates, 
secretly  prepared  themselves  to  usurp  over  their  epis- 
copal brethren  the  same  authority  which  the  bishops 
had  so  lately  assumed  above  the  college  of  presbyters. 
Nor  was  it  long  before  an  emulation  of  pre-eminence 
and  power  prevailed  among  the  metropolitans  them- 
selves, each  of  them  affecting  to  display,  in  the  most 
pompous  terms,  the  temporal  honours  and  advantages 
of  the  city  over  which  he  presided  ;  the  numbers  and 
opulence  of  the  Christians  who  were  subject  to  their 
pastoral  care  ;  the  saints  and  martyrs  who  had  arisen 
among  them,  and  the  purity  with  which  they  preserved 
the  tradition  of  the  faith,  as  it  had  been  transmitted 

59  If  Novatus,  Felicissimus,  &c. ,  whom  the  bishop  of  Carthage 
expelled  from  his  church,  and  from  Africa,  were  not  the  most 
detestable  monsters  of  wickedness,  the  zeal  of  Cyprian  must 
occasionally  have  prevailed  over  his  veracity. 


62  THE   DECLINE  AND   FALL 

throug-h  a  series  of  orthodox  bishops  from  the  apostle 
or  the  apostolic  disciple,  to  whom  the  foundation  of 
their  church  was  ascribed. ^'^  From  every  cause,  either 
of  a  civil  or  of  an  ecclesiastical  nature,  it  was  easy  tG 
foresee  that  Rome  must  enjoy  the  respect,  and  would 
soon  claim  the  obedience,  of  the  provinces.  The 
society  of  the  faithful  bore  a  just  proportion  of  the 
capital  of  the  empire ;  and  the  Roman  church  was  the 
greatest,  the  most  numerous,  and,  in  regard  to  the 
West,  the  most  ancient  of  all  the  Christian  establish- 
ments, many  of  which  had  received  their  religion  from 
the  pious  labours  of  her  missionaries.  Instead  of  one 
apostolic  founder,  the  utmost  boast  of  Antioch,  of 
Ephesus,  or  of  Corinth,  the  banks  of  the  Tiber  were 
supposed  to  have  been  honoured  with  the  preaching 
and  martyrdom  of  the  two  most  eminent  among  the 
apostles  ;  ^^  and  the  bishops  of  Rome  very  prudently 
claimed  the  inheritance  of  whatsoever  prerogatives 
were  attributed  either  to  the  person  or  to  the  office  of 
St.  Peter.  ^2  The  bishops  of  Italy  and  of  the  provinces 
were  disposed  to  allow  them  a  primacy  of  order  and 
association  (such  was  their  very  accurate  expression) 
in  the  Christian  aristocracy.  But  the  power  of  a 
monarch  was  rejected  with  abhorrence,  and  the  aspir- 
ing genius  of  Rome  experienced,  from  the  nations  of 
Asia  and  Africa,  a  more  vigorous  resistance  to  her 
spiritual,  than  she  had  formerly  done  to  her  temporal, 
dominion.     The  patriotic  Cyprian,  who  ruled  with  the 

60  TertuUian,  in  a  distinct  treatise,  has  pleaded  against  the 
heretics  the  right  of  prescription,  as  it  was  held  by  the  apostolic 
churches. 

51  The  journey  of  St.  Peter  to  Rome  is  mentioned  by  most  of 
the  ancients,  maintained  by  all  the  Catholics,  allowed  by  some 
Protestants,  but  has  been  vigorously  attacked  by  Spanheim 
(Miscellanea  Sacra,  iii.  3).  According  to  Father  Hardouin,  the 
monks  of  the  thirteenth  century,  who  composed  the  ^Eneid, 
represented  St.  Peter  under  the  allegorical  character  of  the 
Trojan  hero. 

62  It  is  in  French  only  that  the  famous  allusion  to  St.  Peter's 
name  is  exact.  Tu  es  Pierre  et  sur  c&iie,  pierre. — The  same  is 
imperfect  in  Greek,  Latin,  Italian,  &c.,  and  totally  unintelligible 
vn  our  Teutonic  languages. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  63 

most  absolute  sway  the  church  of  Carthage  and  the 
provincial  synods,  opposed  with  resolution  and  success 
the  ambition  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  artfully  connected 
his  own  cause  with  that  of  the  eastern  bishops,  and, 
like  Hannibal,  sought  out  new  allies  in  the  heart  of 
Asia.  If  this  Punic  war  was  carried  on  without  any 
eiiusion  of  blood,  it  was  owing  much  less  to  the 
moderation  than  to  the  weakness  of  the  contending 
prelates.  Invectives  and  excommunications  were  their 
only  weapons  ;  and  these,  during  the  progress  of  the 
■whole  controversy,  they  hurled  against  each  other 
with  equal  fury  and  devotion.  The  hard  necessity  of 
censuring  either  a  pope,  or  a  saint  and  martyr,  dis- 
tresses the  modern  Catholics,  whenever  they  are 
obliged  to  relate  the  particulars  of  a  dispute  in  which 
the  champions  of  religion  indulged  such  passions  as 
seem  much  more  adapted  to  the  senate  or  to  the  camp. 
The  progress  of  the  ecclesiastical  authority  gave 
birth  to  the  memorable  distinction  of  the  laity  and  of 
the  clergy,  which  had  been  imknown  to  the  Greeks 
and  Romans.  The  former  of  these  appellations  com- 
prehended the  body  of  the  Christian  people;  the  latter, 
according  to  the  signification  of  the  word,  was  appro- 
priated to  the  chosen  portion  that  had  been  set  apart 
for  the  service  of  religion  ;  a  celebrated  order  of  men 
which  has  furnished  the  most  important,  though  not 
always  the  most  edifying,  subjects  for  modern  history. 
Their  mutual  hostilities  sometimes  disturbed  the  peace 
of  the  infant  church,  but  their  zeal  and  activity  were 
united  in  the  common  cause,  and  the  love  of  power, 
which  (under  the  most  artful  disguises)  could  insinuate 
itself  into  the  breasts  of  bishops  and  martyrs,  animated 
them  to  increase  the  number  of  their  subjects,  and  to 
enlarge  the  limits  of  the  Christian  empire,  lliey  were 
destitute  of  any  temporal  force,  and  they  were  for  a 
long  time  discouraged  and  oppressed,  rather  than 
assisted,  by  the  civil  magistrate ;  but  they  had  ac- 
quired, and  they  employed  within  their  own  society, 
the  two  most  efficacious  instruments  of  government, 
rewards  and  punishments  ;   the  former  derived  from 


64  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

the  pious  liberality,  the  latter  from  the  devout  appre- 
hensions, of  the  faithful. 

I.  The  community  of  goods,  which  had  so  agreeably 
amused  the  imagination  of  Plato,^^  and  which  sub- 
sisted in  some  degree  among  the  austere  sect  of  the 
Essenians,  was  adopted  for  a  short  time  in  the 
primitive  church.  The  fervour  of  the  first  proselytes 
prompted  them  to  sell  those  worldly  possessions  which 
they  despised,  to  lay  the  price  of  them  at  the  feet 
of  the  apostles,  and  to  content  themselves  with  re- 
ceiving an  equal  share  out  of  the  general  distribution. 
The  progress  of  the  Christian  religion  relaxed,  and 
gradually  abolished,  this  generous  institution,  which, 
in  hands  less  pure  than  those  of  the  apostles,  would  too 
soon  have  been  corrupted  and  abused  by  the  returning 
selfishness  of  human  nature ;  and  the  converts  who 
embraced  the  new  religion  were  permitted  to  retain 
the  possession  of  their  patrimony,  to  receive  legacies 
and  inheritances,  and  to  increase  their  separate  pro- 
perty by  all  the  lawful  means  of  trade  and  industry. 
Instead  of  an  absolute  sacrifice,  a  moderate  proportion 
was  accepted  by  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  ;  and  in 
their  weekly  or  monthly  assemblies,  every  believer, 
according  to  the  exigency  of  the  occasion,  and  the 
measure  of  his  wealth  and  piety,  presented  his 
voluntary  offering  for  the  use  of  the  common  fund. 
Nothing,  however  inconsiderable,  was  refused  ;  but  it 
was  diligently  inculcated  that,  in  the  article  of  Tythes, 
the  Mosaic  law  was  still  of  divine  obligation  ;  and 
that,  since  the  Jews,  under  a  less  perfect  discipline, 
had  been  commanded  to  pay  a  tenth  part  of  all  that 
they  possessed,  it  would  become  the  disciples  of 
Christ  to  distinguish  themselves  by  a  superior  degree 
of  liberality,^*  and  to  acquire  some  merit  by  resigning 

68  The  community  instituted  by  Plato  is  more  perfect  than 
that  which  Sir  Thomas  More  had  imagined  for  his  Utopia. 
The  community  of  women,  and  that  of  temporal  goods,  may 
be  considered  as  inseparable  parts  of  the  same  system. 

•4  The  Constitutions  introduce  this  divine  precept  by  de- 
claring that  priests  are  as  much  above  kings,  as  the  soul  is 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  56 

a  superfluous  treasure,  which  must  so  soon  be  annihi- 
lated with  the  world  itself,^  It  is  almost  unnecessary 
to  observe  that  the  revenue  of  each  particular  church, 
which  was  of  so  uncertain  and  fluctuating  a  nature, 
must  have  varied  with  the  poverty  or  the  opulence  of 
the  faithful,  as  they  were  dispersed  in  obscure  villages, 
or  collected  in  the  great  cities  of  the  empire.  In  the 
time  of  the  emperor  Decius,  it  was  the  opinion  of  the 
magistrates  that  the  Christians  of  Rome  were  possessed 
of  very  considerable  wealth  ;  that  vessels  of  gold  and 
silver  were  used  in  their  religious  worship  ;  and  that 
many  among  their  proselytes  had  sold  their  lands  and 
houses  to  increase  the  public  riches  of  the  sect,  at  the 
expense,  indeed,  of  their  unfortunate  children,  who 
found  themselves  beggars,  because  their  parents  had 
been  saints.^  We  should  listen  with  distrust  to  the 
suspicions  of  strangers  and  enemies  :  on  this  occasion, 
however,  they  receive  a  very  specious  and  probable 
colour  from  the  two  following  circumstances,  the  only 
ones  that  have  reached  our  knowledge,  which  define 
any  precise  sums,  or  convey  any  distinct  idea.  Almost 
at  the  same  period,  the  bishop  of  Carthage,  from  a 
society  less  opulent  than  that  of  Rome,  collected  a 
hundred  thousand  sesterces  (above  eight  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds  sterling),  on  a  sudden  call  of  charity,  to 
redeem  the  brethren  of  Numidia,  who  had  been  carried 
away  captives  by  the  barbarians  of  the  desert.  About 
an  hundi'ed  years  before  the  reign  of  Decius,  the 
Roman  church  had  received,  in  a  single  donation,  the 
sum  of  two  hundred  thousand  sesterces  from  a  stranger 

above  the  body.  Among  the  tythable  articles,  they  enumerate 
corn,  wine,  oil,  and  wood. 

65  The  same  opinion  which  prevailed  about  the  year  looo  was 
productive  of  the  same  effects.  Most  of  the  donations  express 
their  motive,  "  appropinquante  mundi  fine." 

6«  The  subsequent  conduct  of  the  deacon  Laurence  only 
proves  how  proper  a  use  was  made  of  the  wealth  of  the  Roman 
church ;  it  was  undoubtedly  very  considerable  ;  but  Fra  Paolo 
(c.  3)  appears  to  exaggerate  when  he  supposes  that  the  succes- 
sors of  Commodus  were  urged  to  persecute  the  Christians  by 
their  own  avarice,  or  that  of  their  Praetorian  praefects. 


66  THE  DECLINE  AND  FALL 

of  Pontus,  who  proposed  to  fix  his  residence  in  the 
capital.  These  oblations,  for  the  most  part,  were  made 
in  money ;  nor  was  the  society  of  Christians  either 
desirous  or  capable  of  acquiring,  to  any  considerable 
degree,  the  incumbrance  of  landed  property.  It  had 
been  provided  by  several  laws,  which  were  enacted 
with  the  same  design  as  our  statutes  of  mortmain,  that 
no  real  estates  should  be  given  or  bequeathed  to  any 
corporate  body,  without  either  a  special  privilege  or  a 
particular  dispensation  from  the  emperor  or  from  the 
senate  ;  who  were  seldom  disposed  to  grant  them  in 
favour  of  a  sect,  at  first  the  object  of  their  contempt, 
and  at  last  of  their  fears  and  jealousy.  A  transaction, 
however,  is  related  under  the  reign  of  Alexander 
Severus,  which  discovers  that  the  restraint  was  some- 
times eluded  or  suspended,  and  that  the  Christians 
were  permitted  to  claim  and  to  possess  lands  within  the 
limits  of  Rome  itself.®*"  The  progress  of  Christianity 
and  the  civil  confusion  of  the  empire  contributed  to 
relax  the  severity  of  the  laws ;  and,  before  the  close  of 
the  third  century,  many  considerable  estates  were 
bestowed  on  the  opulent  churches  of  Rome,  Milan, 
Carthage,  Antioch,  Alexandria,  and  the  other  great 
cities  of  Italy  and  the  provinces. 

The  bishop  was  the  natural  steward  of  the  church ; 
the  public  stock  was  intrusted  to  his  care,  without 
account  or  control ;  the  presbyters  were  confined  to 
their  spiritual  functions,  and  the  more  dependent  order 
of  deacons  was  solely  employed  in  the  management  and 
distribution  of  the  ecclesiastical  revenue.  If  we  may 
give  credit  to  the  vehement  declamations  of  Cyprian, 
there  were  too  many  among  his  African  brethren  who, 
in  the  execution  of  their  charge,  violated  every  precept, 
not  only  of  evangelic  perfection,  but  even  of 
moral  virtue.  By  some  of  these  unfaithful  stewards, 
the  riches  of  the  church  were  lavished  in  sensual 
pleasures,  by  others  they  were  perverted  to  the  pur- 
poses of  private  gain,  of  fraudulent  purchases,  and  of 

^  The  ground  had  been  public ;  and  was  now  disputed  be- 
tween the  society  of  Christians  and  that  of  butchers. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  57 

rapacious  usury.  But,  as  long  as  the  contributions 
of  the  Christian  people  were  free  and  unconstrained, 
the  abuse  of  their  conhdence  could  not  be  very  frequent, 
and  the  general  uses  to  which  their  liberality  was 
applied  reflected  honour  on  the  religious  society.  A 
decent  portion  was  reserved  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
bishop  and  his  clergy  ;  a  sufficient  sum  was  allotted 
for  the  expenses  of  the  public  worship,  of  which  the 
feasts  of  love,  the  agapce,  as  they  were  called,  constituted 
a  very  pleasing  part.  The  whole  remainder  was  the 
sacred  patrimony  of  the  poor.  According  to  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  bishop,  it  was  distributed  to  support 
widows  and  orphans,  the  lame,  the  sick,  and  the  aged 
of  the  community  ;  to  comfort  strangers  and  pilgrims, 
and  to  alleviate  the  misfortunes  of  prisoners  and  cap- 
tives, more  especially  when  their  sufferings  had  been 
occasioned  by  their  firm  attachment  to  the  cause  of 
religion.  A  generous  intercourse  of  charity  united 
the  most  distant  provinces,  and  the  smaller  congrega- 
tions were  cheerfully  assisted  by  the  alms  of  their 
more  opulent  brethren.  Such  an  institution,  which 
paid  less  regard  to  the  merit  than  to  the  distress  of 
the  object,  very  materially  conduced  to  the  progress 
of  Christianity.  The  Pagans,  who  were  actuated  by  a 
sense  of  humanity,  while  they  derided  the  doctrines, 
acknowledged  the  benevolence,  of  the  new  sect.*^  The 
prospect  of  immediate  relief  and  of  future  protection 
allured  into  its  hospitable  bosom  many  of  those  un- 
happy persons  whom  the  neglect  of  the  world  would 
have  abandoned  to  the  miseries  of  want,  of  sickness, 
and  of  old  age.  There  is  some  reason  likewise  to 
believe  that  great  numbers  of  infants  who,  according 
to  the  inhuman  practice  of  the  times,  had  been  exposed 
by  their  parents  were  frequently  rescued  from  death, 
baptized,  educated,  and  maintained  by  the  piety  of 
the  Christians,  and  at  the  expense  of  the  public 
treasure.^^ 

63  Julian  (Epist.  49)  seems  mortified  that  the  Christian  charity 
maintains  not  only  their  own,  but  likewise  the  heathen  poor. 
^'   Such,   at   least,   has  been  the  laudable  conduct  of  more 


68  THE  DECLINE   AND   FALL 

II.  It  is  the  undoubted  right  of  every  society  to 
exclude  from  its  communion  and  benefits  such  among 
its  members  as  reject  or  violate  those  regulations 
which  have  been  established  by  general  consent.  In 
the  exercise  of  this  power,  the  censures  of  the  Christian 
church  were  chiefly  directed  against  scandalous  sinners, 
and  particularly  those  who  were  guilty  of  murder,  of 
fraud,  or  of  incontinence ;  against  the  authors,  or  the 
followers,  of  any  heretical  opinions  which  had  been 
condemned  by  the  judgment  of  the  episcopal  order ; 
and  against  those  unhappy  persons  who,  whether  from 
choice  or  from  compulsion,  had  polluted  themselves 
after  their  baptism  by  any  act  of  idolatrous  worship. 
The  consequences  of  excommunication  were  of  a  tem- 
poral as  well  as  a  spiritual  nature.  The  Christian 
against  whom  it  was  pronounced  was  deprived  of  any 
part  in  the  oblations  of  the  faithful.  The  ties  both  of 
religious  and  of  private  friendship  were  dissolved  ;  he 
found  himself  a  profane  object  of  abhorrence  to  the 
persons  whom  he  the  most  esteemed,  or  by  whom  he 
had  been  the  most  tenderly  beloved  ;  and,  as  far  as  an 
expulsion  from  a  respectable  society  could  imprint  on 
his  character  a  mark  of  disgrace,  he  was  shunned  or 
suspected  by  the  generality  of  mankind.  The  situation 
of  these  unfortunate  exiles  was  in  itself  very  painful 
and  melancholy  ;  but,  as  it  usually  happens,  their  appre- 
hensions far  exceeded  their  sufferings.  The  benefits 
of  the  Christian  communion  were  those  of  eternal  life, 
nor  could  they  erase  from  their  minds  the  awful 
opinion,  that  to  those  ecclesiastical  governors  by 
whom  they  were  condemned  the  Deity  had  committed 
the  keys  of  Hell  and  of  Paradise.  The  heretics,  in- 
deed, who  might  be  supported  by  the  consciousness 
of  their  intentions,  and  by  the  flattering  hope  that 
they  alone  had  discovered  the  true  path  of  salvation, 
endeavoured  to  regain,  in  their  separate  assemblies, 
those  comforts,  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual,   which 

modern  missionaries,  under  the  same  circumstances.  Above 
three  thousand  new-born  infants  are  annually  exposed  in  the 
streets  of  Pekin. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  59 

they   no   longer   derived    from    the   great   society   of 

Christians.  But  almost  all  those  who  had  reluctantly 
yielded  to  the  power  of  vice  or  idolatry  were  sensible 
of  their  fallen  condition,  and  anxiously  desirous  of 
being-  restored  to  the  benefits  of  the  Christian  com- 
munion. 

With  reg-ard  to  the  treatment  of  these  penitents, 
two  opposite  opinions,  the  one  of  justice,  the  other  of 
mercy,  divided  the  primitive  church.  The  more  rigid 
and  inflexible  casuists  refused  them  for  ever,  and  with- 
out exception,  the  meanest  place  in  the  holy  com- 
munity, which  they  had  disffraced  or  deserted,  and, 
leaving  them  to  the  remorse  of  a  guilty  conscience, 
indulged  them  only  with  a  faint  ray  of  hope  that  the 
contrition  of  their  life  and  death  might  possibly  be 
accepted  by  the  Supreme  Being.  ^*^  A  milder  senti- 
ment was  embraced,  in  practice  as  well  as  in  theory, 
by  the  purest  and  most  respectable  of  the  Christian 
churches.  The  gates  of  reconciliation  and  of  Heaven 
were  seldom  shut  against  the  returning  penitent ;  but 
a  severe  and  solemn  form  of  discipline  was  instituted, 
which,  while  it  served  to  expiate  his  crime,  might 
powerfully  deter  the  spectators  froili  the  imitation  of 
his  example.  Humbled  by  a  public  confession,  ema- 
ciated by  fasting,  and  clothed  in  sackcloth,  the  penitent 
lay  prostrate  at  the  door  of  the  assembly,  imploring, 
with  tears,  the  pardon  of  his  offences,  and  soliciting 
the  prayers  of  the  faithful.  "^  If  the  fault  was  of  a  very 
heinous  nature,  whole  years  of  penance  were  esteemed 
an  inadequate  satisfaction  to  the  Divine  Justice  ;  and 
it  was  always  by  slow  and  painful  gradations  that  the 
sinner,  the  heretic,  or  the  apostate  was  re-admitted 
into  the  bosom  of  the  church.  A  sentence  of  perpetual 
excommunication  was,  however,  reserved  for  some 
crimes  of  an  extraordinary  magnitude,  and  particularly 

70  The  Montanists  and  the  Novatians,  who  adhered  to  this 
opinion  with  the  greatest  rigour  and  obstinacy,  found  themselves 
at  last  in  the  number  of  excommunicated  heretics. 

^  The  admirers  of  antiquity  regret  the  loss  of  this  public 
penance. 


60  THE  DECLINE   AND   FALL 

for  the  inexcusable  relapses  of  those  penitents  who 
had  already  experienced  and  abused  the  clemency  of 
their  ecclesiastical  superiors.  According  to  the  cir- 
cumstances or  the  number  of  the  guilty,  the  exercise 
of  the  Christian  discipline  was  varied  by  the  discretion 
of  the  bishops.  The  councils  of  Ancyra  and  Illiberis 
were  held  about  the  same  time^  the  one  in  Galatia, 
the  other  in  Spain  ;  but  their  respective  canons,  which 
are  still  extant,  seem  to  breathe  a  very  different  spirit. 
The  Galatian,  who  after  his  baptism  had  repeatedly 
sacrificed  to  idols^  might  obtain  his  pardon  by  a  penance 
of  seven  years,  and,  if  he  had  seduced  others  to  imitate 
his  example^  only  three  years  more  were  added  to  the 
term  of  his  exile.  But  the  unhappy  Spaniard,  who 
had  committed  the  same  offence,  was  deprived  of  the 
hope  of  reconciliation,  even  in  the  article  of  death  ; 
and  his  idolatry  was  placed  at  the  head  of  a  list  of 
seventeen  other  crimes,  against  which  a  sentence,  no 
less  terrible,  was  pronounced.  Among  these  we  may 
distinguish  the  inexpiable  guilt  of  calumniating  a 
bishop,  a  presbyter,  or  even  a  deacon.''^ 

The  well-tempered  mixture  of  liberality  and  rigour, 
the  judicious  dispensation  of  rewards  and  punishments, 
according  to  the  maxims  of  policy  as  well  as  justice, 
constituted  the  human  strength  of  the  church.  The 
bishops,  whose  paternal  care  extended  itself  to  the 
government  of  both  worlds,  were  sensible  of  the  im- 
portance of  these  prerogatives,  and,  covering  their 
ambition  with  the  fair  pretence  of  the  love  of  order, 
they  were  jealous  of  any  rival  in  the  exercise  of  a 
discipline  so  necessary  to  prevent  the  desertion  of 
those  troops  which  had  inlisted  themselves  under  the 
banner  of  the  cross,   and  whose  numbers  every  day 

72  See  in  Dupin,  Bibliotheque  Eccldsiastique,  torn,  ii.  pp.  304- 
313,  a  short  but  rational  exposition  of  the  canons  of  those 
councils,  which  were  assembled  in  the  first  moments  of  tran- 
quillity after  the  persecution  of  Diocletian.  This  persecution 
had  been  much  less  severely  felt  in  Spain  than  in  Galatia ;  a 
difference  which  may,  in  some  measure,  account  for  the  con- 
trast of  their  regulations. 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  61 

became  more  considerable.  From  the  imperious  de- 
clamations of  Cyprian  we  should  naturally  conclude 
that  the  doctrines  of  excommunication  and  penance 
formed  the  most  essential  part  of  religion  ;  and  that  it 
was  much  less  dangerous  for  the  disciples  of  Christ  to 
neglect  the  observance  of  the  moral  duties  than  to 
despise  the  censures  and  authority  of  their  bishops. 
Sometimes  we  might  imagine  that  we  were  listening 
to  the  voice  of  Moses,  when  he  commanded  the  earth 
to  open,  and  to  swallow  up,  in  consuming  flames,  the 
rebellious  race  which  refused  obedience  to  the  priest- 
hood of  Aaron ;  and  we  should  sometimes  suppose 
that  we  heard  a  Roman  consul  asserting  the  majesty 
of  the  republic,  and  declaring  his  inflexible  resolution 
to  enforce  the  rigour  of  the  laws.  ''If  such  irregu- 
larities are  su fleered  with  impunity  (it  is  thus  that  the 
bishop  of  Carthage  chides  the  lenity  of  his  colleague), 
if  such  irregularities  are  sufl^ered,  there  is  an  end  of 
Episcopal  vigour  ;  an  end  of  the  sublime  and  divine 
power  of  governing  the  church,  an  end  of  Christianity 
itself."  Cyprian  had  renounced  those  temporal 
honours  which  it  is  probable  he  would  never  have 
obtained;  but  the  acquisition  of  such  absolute  command 
over  the  consciences  and  understanding  of  a  congre- 
gation, however  obscure  or  despised  by  the  world,  is 
more  truly  grateful  to  the  pride  of  the  human  heart 
than  the  possession  of  the  most  despotic  power  imposed 
by  arms  and  conquest  on  a  reluctant  people. 

In  the  course  of  this  important,  though  perhaps 
tedious,  inquiry,  I  have  attempted  to  display  the 
secondary  causes  which  so  eflacaciously  assisted  the 
truth  of  the  Christian  religion.  If  among  these  causes 
we  have  discovered  any  artificial  ornaments,  any  acci- 
dental circumstances,  or  any  mixture  of  error  and 
passion,  it  cannot  appear  surprising  that  mankind 
should  be  the  most  sensibly  afi'ected  by  such  motives 
as  were  suited  to  their  imperfect  nature.  It  was  by 
the  aid  of  these  causes,  exclusive  zeal,  the  immediate 
expectation  of  another  world,  the  claim  of  miracles, 
the  practice  of  rigid  virtue,  and  the  constitution  of  the 


62  THE  DECLINE   AND   FALL 

primitive  church,  that  Christianity  spread  itself  with 
so  much  success  in  the  Roman  empire.  To  the  first 
of  these  the  Christians  were  indebted  for  their  in- 
vincible valour,  which  disdained  to  capitulate  with  the 
enemy  whom  they  were  resolved  to  vanquish.  The 
three  succeeding  causes  supplied  their  valour  with  the 
most  formidable  arms.  The  last  of  these  causes  united 
their  courag-e,  directed  their  arms,  and  gave  their 
efforts  that  irresistible  weight  which  even  a  small  band 
of  well-trained  and  intrepid  volunteers  has  so  often 
possessed  over  an  undisciplined  multitude,  ignorant  of 
the  subject,  and  careless  of  the  event  of  the  war.  In 
the  various  religions  of  Polytheism,  some  wandering 
fanatics  of  Egypt  and  Syria,  who  addressed  themselves 
to  the  credulous  superstition  of  the  populace,  were 
perhaps  the  only  order  of  priests  ^^  that  derived  their 
whole  support  and  credit  from  their  sacerdotal  pro- 
fession, and  were  very  deeply  affected  by  a  personal 
concern  for  the  safety  or  prosperity  of  their  tutelar 
deities.  The  ministers  of  Polytheism,  both  in  Rome 
and  in  the  provinces,  were,  for  the  most  part,  men  of 
a  noble  birth,  and  of  an  affluent  fortune,  who  received, 
as  an  honourable  distinction,  the  care  of  a  celebrated 
temple,  or  of  a  public  sacrifice,  exhibited,  very  fre- 
quently at  their  own  expense,  the  sacred  games,''*  and 
with  cold  indifference  performed  the  ancient  rites, 
according  to  the  laws  and  fashion  of  their  country. 
As  they  were  engaged  in  the  ordinary  occupations  of 
life,  their  zeal  and  devotion  were  seldom  animated  by 
a  sense  of  interest,  or  by  the  habits  of  an  ecclesiastical 
character.  Confined  to  their  respective  temples  and 
cities,  they  remained  without  any  connection  of  dis- 
cipline or  government ;  and,  whilst  they  acknowledged 

'3  The  arts,  the  manners,  and  the  vices  of  the  priests  of  the 
Syrian  goddess  are  very  humorously  described  by  Apuleius,  in 
the  eighth  book  of  his  Metamorphoses. 

74  The  office  of  Asiarch  was  of  this  nature,  and  it  is  frequently 
mentioned  in  Aristides,  the  Inscriptions,  &c.  It  was  annual 
and  elective.  None  but  the  vainest  citizens  could  desire  the 
honour  ;  none  but  the  most  wealthy  could  support  the  expense. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  63 

the  supreme  jurisdiction  of  the  senate,  of  the  college 
of  pontiffs,  and  of  the  emperor,  those  civil  ma^strates 
contented  themselves  vvith  the  easy  task  of  maintaining, 
in  peace  and  dignity,  the  general  worship  of  mankind. 
We  have  already  seen  how  various,  how  loose,  and 
how  uncertain  were  the  religious  sentiments  of  Poly- 
theists.  They  were  abandoned,  almost  without  control, 
to  the  natural  workings  of  a  superstitious  fancy.  The 
accidental  circumstances  of  their  life  and  situation 
determined  the  object,  as  well  as  the  degree,  of  their 
devotion  ;  and,  as  long  as  their  adoration  was  succes- 
sively prostituted  to  a  thousand  deities,  it  was  scarcely 
possible  that  their  hearts  could  be  susceptible  of  a 
very  sincere  or  lively  passion  for  any  of  them. 

When  Christianity  appeared  in  the  world,  even  these 
faint  and  imperfect  impressions  had  lost  much  of  their 
original  power.  Human  reason,  which,  by  its  unas- 
sisted strength,  is  incapable  of  perceiving  the  mysteries 
of  faith,  had  already  obtained  an  easy  triumph  over  the 
folly  of  Paganism  ;  and,  when  Tertullian  or  Lactautius 
employ  their  labours  in  exposing  its  falsehood  and 
extravagance,  they  are  obliged  to  transcribe  the  elo- 
quence of  Cicero  or  the  wit  of  Lucian.  The  contagion 
of  these  sceptical  writings  had  been  diffused  far  beyond 
the  number  of  their  readers.  The  fashion  of  incredu- 
lity was  communicated  from  the  philosopher  to  the 
man  of  pleasure  or  business,  from  the  noble  to  the 
plebeian,  and  from  the  master  to  the  menial  slave  who 
waited  at  his  table,  and  who  eagerly  listened  to  the 
freedom  of  his  conversation.  On  public  occasions  the 
philosophic  part  of  mankind  affected  to  treat  with 
respect  and  decency  the  religious  institutions  of  their 
country  ;  but  their  secret  contempt  penetrated  through 
the  thin  and  awkward  disguise  ;  and  even  the  people, 
when  they  discovered  that  their  deities  were  rejected 
and  derided  by  those  whose  rank  or  understanding 
they  were  accustomed  to  reverence,  were  filled  with 
doubts  and  apprehensions  concerning  the  truth  of 
those  doctrines  to  which  they  had  yielded  the  most 
implicit   belief.       The    decline    of   ancient    prejudice 


64  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

exposed  a  very  numerous  portion  of  human  kind  to 
the  danger  of  a  painful  and  comfortless  situation.  A 
state  of  scepticism  and  suspense  may  amuse  a  few 
inquisitive  minds.  But  the  practice  of  superstition  is 
so  congenial  to  the  multitude  that,  if  they  are  forcibly 
awakened,  they  still  regret  the  loss  of  their  pleasing 
vision.  Their  love  of  the  marvellous  and  supernatural, 
their  curiosity  with  regard  to  future  events,  and  their 
strong  propensity  to  extend  their  hopes  and  fears 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  visible  world,  were  the  prin- 
cipal causes  which  favoured  the  establishment  of 
Polytheism.  So  urgent  on  the  vulgar  is  the  necessity 
of  believing  that  the  fall  of  any  system  of  mythology 
will  most  probably  be  succeeded  by  the  introduction 
of  some  other  mode  of  superstition.  Some  deities  of 
a  more  recent  and  fashionable  cast  might  soon  have 
occupied  the  deserted  temples  of  Jupiter  and  Apollo, 
if,  in  the  decisive  moment,  the  wisdom  of  Providence 
had  not  interposed  a  genuine  revelation,  fitted  to 
inspire  the  most  rational  esteem  and  conviction,  whilst, 
at  the  same  time,  it  was  adorned  with  all  that  could 
attract  the  curiosity,  the  wonder,  and  the  veneration 
of  the  people.  In  their  actual  disposition,  as  many 
were  almost  disengaged  from  their  artificial  prejudices, 
but  equally  susceptible  and  desirous  of  a  devout  attach- 
ment ;  an  object  much  less  deserving  would  have  been 
sufficient  to  fill  the  vacant  place  in  their  hearts,  and 
to  gratify  the  uncertain  eagerness  of  their  passions. 
Those  who  are  inclined  to  pursue  this  reflection,  instead 
of  viewing  with  astonishment  the  rapid  progress  of 
Christianity,  will  perhaps  be  surprised  that  its  success 
was  not  stiil  more  rapid  and  still  more  universal. 

It  has  been  observed,  with  truth  as  well  as  propriety, 
that  the  conquests  of  Rome  prepared  and  facilitated 
those  of  Christianity.  In  the  second  chapter  of  this 
work  we  have  attempted  to  explain  in  what  manner 
the  most  civilised  provinces  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa 
were  united  under  the  dominion  of  one  sovereign,  and 
gradually  connected  by  the  most  intimate  ties  of  laws, 
of  manners,  and  of  language.     The  Jews  of  Palestine, 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  Go 

who  had  fondly  expected  a  temporal  deliverer_,  gave 
so  cold  a  reception  to  tlie  miracles  of  the  divine  prophet 
that  it  was  found  unnecessary  to  publish^  or  at  least 
to  preserve,  any  Hebrew  gospel."^  The  authentic 
histories  of  the  actions  of  Christ  were  composed  in  the 
Greek  language,  at  a  considerable  distance  from  Jeru- 
salem, and  after  the  Gentile  converts  were  grown 
extremely  numerous J^  As  soon  as  those  histories 
were  translated  into  the  Latin  tongue,  they  were  per- 
fectly intelligible  to  all  the  subjects  of  Rome,  excepting 
only  to  the  peasants  of  Syria  and  Egypt,  for  whose 
benefit  particular  versions  were  afterwards  made.  The 
public  highways,  which  had  been  constructed  for  the 
use  of  the  legions,  opened  an  easy  passage  for  the 
Christian  missionaries  from  Damascus  to  Corinth,  and 
from  Italy  to  the  extremity  of  Spain  or  Britain  ;  nor 
did  those  spiritual  conquerors  encounter  any  of  the 
obstacles  which  usually  retard  or  prevent  the  intro- 
duction of  a  foreign  religion  into  a  distant  country. 
There  is  the  strongest  reason  to  believe  that  before 
the  reigns  of  Diocletian  and  Constantine,  the  faith  of 
Christ  had  been  preached  in  every  province,  and  in 
all  the  great  cities  of  the  empire  ;  but  the  foundation 
of  the  several  congregations,  the  numbers  of  the  faith- 
ful who  composed  them,  and  their  proportion  to  the 
unbelieving  multitude,  are  now  buried  in  obscurity,  or 
disguised  by  fiction  and  declamation.  Such  imperfect 
circumstances,  however,  as  have  reached  our  knowledge 
concerning  the  increase  of  the  Christian  name  in  Asia 
and  Greece,  in  Egypt,  in  Italy,  and  in  the  West,  we 
shall  now  proceed  to  relate,  without  neglecting  the 
real  or  imaginary  acquisitions  which  lay  beyond  the 
frontiers  of  the  Roman  empire. 

The  rich  provinces  that  extend  from  the  Euphrates 

''5  The  modern  critics  are  not  disposed  to  believe  what  the 
fathers  almost  unanimously  assert,  that  St.  Matthew  composed 
a  Hebrew  gospel,  of  which  only  the  Greek  translation  is  extant. 
It  seems,  however,  dangerous  to  reject  their  testimony. 

78  Under  the  reigns  of  Nero  and  Domitian,  and  in  the  cities 
of  Alexandria,  Antioch,  Rome,  and  Ephesus. 

VOL.  II.  C 


66  THE  DECLINE   AND   FALL 

to  the  Ionian  sea  were  the  principal  theatre  on  which 
the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  displayed  his  zeal  and  piety. 
The  seeds  of  the  g'ospel,  which  he  had  scattered  in  a 
fertile  soil,  were  diligently  cultivated  by  his  disciples ; 
and  it  should  seem  that,  during  the  two  first  centuries, 
the  most  considerable  body  of  Christians  was  contained 
within  those  limits.  Among  the  societies  which  were 
instituted  in  Syria,  none  were  more  ancient  or  more 
illustrious  than  those  of  Damascus,  of  Bercea  or  Aleppo, 
and  of  Antioch.  The  prophetic  introduction  of  the 
Apocalypse  has  described  and  immortalised  the  seven 
churches  of  Asia:  —  Ephesus,  Smyrna,  Pergamus, 
Thyatira,'*^  Sardes,  Laodicea,  and  Philadelphia  ;  and 
their  colonies  were  soon  diffused  over  that  populous 
country.  In  a  very  early  period,  the  islands  of  Cyprus 
and  Crete,  the  provinces  of  Thrace  and  Macedonia, 
gave  a  favourable  reception  to  the  new  religion  ;  and 
Christian  republics  were  soon  founded  in  the  cities  of 
Corinth,  of  Sparta,  and  of  Athens."^  The  antiquity  of 
the  Greek  and  Asiatic  churches  allowed  a  sufficient 
space  of  time  for  their  increase  and  multiplication,  and 
even  the  swarms  of  Gnostics  and  other  heretics  serve 
to  display  the  flourishing  condition  of  the  orthodox 
church,  since  the  appellation  of  heretics  has  always 
been  applied  to  the  less  numerous  party.  To  these 
domestic  testimonies  we  may  add  the  confession,  the 
complaints,  and  the  apprehensions  of  the  Gentiles 
themselves.  From  the  writings  of  Lucian,  a  philosopher 
who  had  studied  mankind,  and  who  describes  their 
manners  in  the  most  lively  colours,  we  may  learn  that, 
uuder  the  reign  of  Commodus,  his  native  country  of 
Pontus  was  filled    with    Epicureans  and    Christians."^ 

"^  The  Alogians  (Epiphanius  de  Hasres.  51)  disputed  the 
genuineness  of  the  Apocalypse,  because  the  church  of  Thyatira 
was  not  yet  founded.  Epiphanius,  who  allows  the  fact,  extri- 
cates himself  from  the  difficulty  by  ingeniously  supposing  that 
St.  John  wrote  in  the  spirit  of  prophecy. 

78  The  epistles  of  Ignatius  and  Dionysius  (ap.  Euseb.  iv.  23) 
point  out  many  churches  in  Asia  and  Greece.  That  of  Athens 
seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  least  flourishing. 

7^  Christianity,    however,    must    have   been    very   unequally 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  07 

^Vithin  fourscore  years  after  the  death  of  Christ,^  the 
humane  Pliuy  laments  the  magnitude  of  the  evil  which 
he  vainly  attempted  to  eradicate.  In  his  very  curious 
epistle  to  the  emperor  Trajan,  he  affirms  that  the 
temples  were  almost  deserted,  that  the  sacred  victims 
scarcely  found  any  purchasers,  and  that  the  super- 
stition had  not  only  infected  the  cities,  but  had  even 
spread  itself  into  the  villages  and  the  open  country  of 
Pontus  and  Bithynia. 

Without  descending  into  a  minute  scrutiny  of  the 
expressions,  or  of  the  motives  of  those  writers  who 
either  celebrate  or  lament  the  progress  of  Christianity 
in  the  East,  it  may  in  general  be  observed  that  none 
of  them  have  left  us  any  grounds  from  whence  a  just 
estimate  might  be  formed  of  the  real  numbers  of  the 
faithful  in  those  provinces.  One  circumstance,  how- 
ever, has  been  fortunately  preserved,  which  seems  to 
cast  a  more  distinct  light  on  this  obscure  but  interesting 
subject.  Under  the  reign  of  Theodosius,  after  Chris- 
tianity had  enjoyed,  during  more  than  sixty  years,  the 
sunshine  of  Imperial  favour,  the  ancient  and  illustrious 
church  of  Antioch  consisted  of  one  hundred  thousand 
persons,  three  thousand  of  whom  were  supported  out 
of  the  public  oblations.  The  splendour  and  dignity 
of  the  queen  of  the  East,  the  acknowledged  populous- 
ness  of  Caesarea,  Seleucia,  and  Alexandria,  and  the 
destruction  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousai;d  souls 
in  the  earthquake  which  afflicted  Antioch  under  the 
elder  Justin,*^  are  so  many  convincing  proofs  that  the 
whole  number  of  its  inhabitants  was  not  less  than  half 
a  million,  and  that  the  Christians,  however  multiplied 
by  zeal  and  power,  did  not  exceed  a  fifth  part  of  that 
great  city.     How  different  a  proportion  must  we  adopt 

diffused  over  Pontus  ;  since  in  the  middle  of  the  third  century 
there  were  no  more  than  seventeen  believers  in  the  extensive 
diocese  of  Neo-Caesarea. 

8<J  According  to  the  ancients,  Jesus  Christ  suffered  imder  the 
consulship  of  the  two  Gemini,  in  the  year  29  of  our  present  aera, 
Pliny  was  sent  into  Bithynia  (according  to  Pagi)  in  the  year  no. 

81  John  Malala,  torn.  ii.  p.  144.  He  draws  the  same  ^conclu- 
sion with  regard  to  the  populousness  of  Antioch. 


68  THE   DECLINE   AND  FALL 

when  we  compare  the  persecuted  with  the  triumphant 
church,  the  AFest  with  the  East,  remote  villages  with 
populous  towns,  and  countries  recently  converted  to 
the  faith  with  the  place  where  the  believers  first  re- 
ceived the  appellation  of  Christians  !  It  must  not, 
however,  be  dissembled  that,  in  another  passage, 
Chrysostom,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  this  useful 
information,  computes  the  multitude  of  the  faithful  as 
even  superior  to  that  of  the  Jews  and  Pagans.  But 
the  solution  of  this  apparent  difficulty  is  easy  and 
obvious.  The  eloquent  preacher  draws  a  parallel  be- 
tween the  civil  and  the  ecclesiastical  constitution  of 
Antioch  ;  between  the  list  of  Christians  who  had  ac- 
quired Heaven  by  baptism  and  the  list  of  citizens  who 
had  a  right  to  share  the  public  liberality.  Slaves, 
strangers,  and  infants  were  comprised  in  the  former ; 
they  were  excluded  from  the  latter. 

The  extensive  commerce  of  Alexandria,  and  its 
proximity  to  Palestine,  gave  an  easy  entrance  to  the 
new  religion.  It  was  at  first  embraced  by  great 
numbers  of  the  Therapeutfe,  or  Essenians  of  the  lake 
Mareotis,  a  Jewish  sect  which  had  abated  much  of  its 
reverence  for  the  Mosaic  ceremonies.  The  austere  life 
of  the  Essenians,  their  fasts  and  excommunications, 
the  community  of  goods,  the  love  of  celibacy,  their 
zeal  for  martyrdom,  and  the  warmth  though  not  the 
purity  of  their  faith,  already  offered  a  very  lively  image 
of  the  primitive  disciplined'^  It  was  in  the  school  of 
Alexandria  that  the  Christian  theology  appears  to  have 
assumed  a  regular  and  scientifical  form  ;  and,  when 
Hadrian  visited  Egypt,  he  found  a  church,  composed 

82  Basnage,  Histoire  des  Juifs,  1.  2,  c.  20,  21,  22,  23,  has  ex- 
amined, with  the  most  critical  accuracy,  the  curious  treatise  of 
Philo  which  describes  the  Therapeutae.  By  proving  that  it 
was  composed  as  early  as  the  time  of  Augustus,  Basnage  has 
demonstrated,  in  spite  of  Eusebius  (1.  ii.  c.  17),  and  a  crowd 
of  modern  Catholics,  that  the  Therapeutae  were  neither  Chris- 
tians nor  monks.  It  still  remains  probable  that  they  changed 
their  name,  preserved  their  manners,  adopted  some  new  articles 
of  faith,  and  gradually  became  the  fathers  of  the  Egyptian 
Ascetics. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  69 

of  Jews  and  of  Greeks,  sufficiently  important  to  attract 
the  notice  of  that  inquisitive  prince.*^  But  the  pro- 
gress of  Christianity  was  for  a  long  time  confined 
within  the  limits  of  a  single  city,  which  was  itself  a 
foreign  colony^,  and,  till  the  close  of  the  second  cen- 
tury, the  predecessors  of  Demetrius  were  the  only 
prelates  of  the  Egyptian  church.  Three  bishops  were 
consecrated  by  the  hands  of  Demetrius,  and  the  number 
was  increased  to  twenty  by  his  successor  Heraclas,^^ 
The  body  of  the  natives,  a  people  distinguished  by 
a  sullen  inflexibility  of  temper,  entertained  the  new 
doctrine  with  coldness  and  reluctance  ;  and  even  in 
the  time  of  Origen  it  was  rare  to  meet  with  an  Egyptian 
who  had  surmounted  his  early  prejudices  in  favour  of 
the  sacred  animals  of  his  country.  As  soon,  indeed, 
as  Christianity  ascended  the  throne,  the  zeal  of  those 
barbarians  obeyed  the  prevailing  impulsion  ;  the  cities 
of  Egypt  were  filled  with  bishops,  and  the  deserts  of 
Thebais  swarmed  with  hermits. 

A  perpetual  stream  of  strangers  and  provincials 
flowed  into  the  capacious  bosom  of  Rome.  Whatever 
was  strange  or  odious,  whoever  was  guilty  or  suspected, 
might  hope,  in  the  obscurity  of  that  immense  capital, 
to  elude  the  vigilance  of  the  law.  In  such  a  various 
conflux  of  nations,  every  teacher,  either  of  truth  or  of 
falsehood,  every  founder,  whether  of  a  virtuous  or  a 
criminal  association,  might  easily  multiply  his  disciples 
or  accomplices.  The  Christians  of  Rome,  at  the  time 
of  the  accidental  persecution  of  Nero,  are  represented 
by  Tacitus  as  already  amounting  to  a  very  great  multi- 
tude, and  the  language  of  that  great  historian  is  almost 
similar  to  the  style  employed  by  Livy,  when  he  relates 
the  introduction  and  the  suppression  of  the  rites  of 

83  See  a  letter  of  Hadrian,  in  the  Augustan  History,  p.  245. 

8^  For  the  succession  of  Alexandrian  bishops,  consult  Re- 
naudot's  History,  p.  24,  &c.  This  curious  fact  is  preserved  by 
the  patriarch  Eutychius  (Annal.  torn.  i.  p.  334,  Vers.  Pocock), 
and  its  internal  evidence  would  alone  be  a  sufficient  answer  to 
all  the  objections  which  Bishop  Pearnos  has  urged  in  the  Vin- 
diciae  Ignatianae. 


70  THE  DECLINE   AND   FALL 

Bacchus.  After  the  Bacchanals  had  awakened  the 
severity  of  the  senate,  it  was  likewise  apprehended  that 
a  very  great  multitude,  as  it  were  another  people,  had 
been  initiated  into  those  abhorred  mysteries.  A  more 
careful  inquiry  soon  demonstrated  that  the  offenders 
did  not  exceed  seven  thousand  ;  a  number,  indeed, 
sufficiently  alarming,  when  considered  as  the  object  of 
public  justice. ^^  It  is  with  the  same  candid  allowance 
that  we  should  interpret  the  vague  expressions  of 
Tacitus,  and  in  a  former  instance  of  Pliny,  when  they 
exaggerate  the  crowds  of  deluded  fanatics  who  had 
forsaken  the  established  worship  of  the  gods.  The 
church  of  Rome  was  undoubtedly  the  first  and  most 
populous  of  the  empire  ;  and  we  are  possessed  of  an 
authentic  record  which  attests  the  state  of  religion  in 
that  city,  about  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  and 
after  a  peace  of  thirty-eight  years.  The  clergy,  at  that 
time,  consisted  of  a  bishop,  forty-six  presbyters,  seven 
deacons,  as  many  sub-deacons,  forty- two  acolytes,  and 
fifty  readers,  exorcists,  and  porters.  The  number  of 
widows,  of  the  infirm,  and  of  the  poor,  who  were 
maintained  by  the  oblations  of  the  faithful,  amounted 
to  fifteen  hundred.  From  reason,  as  well  as  from  the 
analogy  of  Antioch,  we  may  venture  to  estimate  the 
Christians  of  Rome  at  about  fifty  thousand.  The 
populousness  of  that  great  capital  cannot,  perhaps,  be 
exactly  ascertained  ;  but  the  most  modest  calculation 
will  not  surely  reduce  it  lower  than  a  million  of  inhabi- 
tants, of  whom  the  Christians  might  constitute  at  the 
most  a  twentieth  part.^^ 

The  western  provincials  appeared  to  have  derived 
the  knowledge  of  Christianity  from  the  same  source 

85  T.  Liv.  xxxix.  13,  15,  16,  17.  Nothing  could  exceed  the 
horror  and  consternation  of  the  senate  on  the  discovery  of  the 
Bacchanalians,  whosede  pravity  is  described,  and  perhaps  ex- 
aggerated, by  Livy. 

86  This  proportion  of  the  presbyters  and  of  the  poor  to  the 
rest  of  the  people  was  originally  fixed  by  Burnet  (Travels  into 
Italy,  p.  168),  and  is  approved  by  Moyle  (vol.  ii.  p.  151).  They 
were  both  unacquainted  with  the  passage  of  Chrysostom,  which 
converts  their  conjecture  almost  into  a  fact. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  71 

which  had  diffused  among  them  the  language,  the 
sentiments,  and  the  manners  of  Rome.  In  this  more 
important  circumstance,  Africa,  as  well  as  Gaul,  was 
gradually  fashioned  to  the  imitation  of  the  capital. 
Yet,  notwithstanding  the  many  favourable  occasions 
which  might  invite  the  Roman  missionaries  to  visit 
their  Latin  provinces,  it  was  late  before  they  passed 
either  the  sea  or  the  Alps  f'  nor  can  we  discover  in 
those  great  countries  any  assured  traces  either  of  faith 
or  of  persecution  that  ascend  higher  than  the  reign  of 
the  Antonines.^  The  slow  progress  of  the  gospel  in 
the  cold  climate  of  Gaul  was  extremely  different  from 
the  eagerness  with  which  it  seems  to  have  been  received 
on  the  burning  sands  of  Africa.  The  African  Christians 
soon  formed  one  of  the  principal  members  of  the 
primitive  church.  The  practice  introduced  into  that 
province  of  appointing  bishops  to  the  most  inconsider- 
able towns,  and  very  frequently  to  the  most  obscure 
villages,  contributed  to  multiply  the  splendour  and 
importance  of  their  religious  societies,  which  during 
the  course  of  the  third  century  were  animated  by  the 
zeal  of  Tertullian,  directed  by  the  abilities  of  Cyprian, 
and  adorned  by  the  eloquence  of  Lactantius.  But  if, 
on  the  contrary,  we  turn  our  eyes  towards  Gaul,  we 
must  content  ourselves  with  discovering,  in  the  time 
of  Marcus  Antoninus,  the  feeble  and  united  congrega- 
tions of  Lyons  and  Vienna  ;  and,  even  as  late  as  the 
reign  of  Decius,  we  are  assured  that  in  a  few  cities 
only,  Aries,  Narbonne,  Toulouse,  Limoges,  Clermont, 
Tours,  and  Paris,  some  scattered  churches  were  sup- 
ported by  the  devotion  of  a  small  number  of  Christians.^ 

87  According  to  the  Donatists,  whose  assertion  is  confirmed  by 
the  tacit  acknowledgment  of  Augustin,  Africa  was  the  last  of 
the  provinces  which  received  the  gospel. 

88  It  is  imagined  that  the  Scyliitan  martyrs  were  the  first 
(Acta  Sincera  Ruinart.  p.  34).  One  of  the  adversaries  of 
Apuleius  seems  to  have  been  a  Christian.  Apolog.  pp.  496,  497, 
edit.  Delphin. 

89  There  is  some  reason  to  believe  that,  in  the  beginning  of 
the  fourth  century,  the  extensive  dioceses  of  Liege,  of  Treves, 
and  of  Cologne  composed  a  single  bishopric,  which  had  been 


72  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

Silence  is  indeed  very  consistent  with  devotion,  but, 
as  it  is  seldom  compatible  with  zeal,  we  may  perceive 
and  lament  the  languid  state  of  Christianity  in  those 
provinces  which  had  exchanged  the  Celtic  for  the 
Latin  tongue  ;  since  they  did  not,  during  the  three 
first  centuries,  give  birth  to  a  single  ecclesiastical 
writer.  From  Gaul,  which  claimed  a  just  pre-eminence 
of  learning  and  authority  over  all  the  countries  on  this 
side  of  the  Alps,  the  light  of  the  gospel  was  more 
faintly  reflected  on  the  remote  provinces  of  Spain  and 
Britain  ;  and,  if  we  may  credit  the  vehement  assertions 
of  Tertullian,  they  had  already  received  the  first  rays 
of  the  faith  when  he  addressed  his  apology  to  the 
magistrates  of  the  emperor  Severus.^'^  But  the  obscure 
and  imperfect  origin  of  the  western  churches  of  Europe 
has  been  so  negligently  recorded  that,  if  we  would 
relate  the  time  and  manner  of  their  foundation,  we 
must  supply  the  silence  of  antiquity  by  those  legends 
which  avarice  or  superstition  long  afterwards  dictated 
to  the  monks  in  the  lazy  gloom  of  their  convents. ^^ 
Of  these  holy  romances,  that  of  the  apostle  St.  James 
can  alone,  by  its  single  extravagance,  deserve  to  be 
mentioned.  From  a  peaceful  fisherman  of  the  lake  of 
Gennesareth,  he  was  transformed  into  a  valorous  knight, 
who  charged  at  the  head  of  the  Spanish  chivalry  in 
their  battles  against  the  Moors.  The  gravest  historians 
have  celebrated  his  exploits  ;  the  miraculous  shrine  of 
Compostella  displayed  his  power ;  and  the  sword  of  a 
military  order,  assisted  by  the  terrors  of  the  Inquisition, 
was  sufficient  to  remove  every  objection  of  profane 
criticism.^- 

very  recently  founded.  See  M^moires  de  Tillemont,  torn.  vi. 
part  i,  pp.  43,  411. 

90  The  date  of  TertuUian's  Apology  is  fixed,  in  a  dissertation 
of  Mosheim,  to  the  year  198. 

91  In  the  fifteenth  century,  there  were  few  who  had  either 
inclination  or  courage  to  question,  whether  Joseph  of  Arimathea 
founded  the  monastery  of  Glastonbury,  and  whether  Dionysius 
the  Areopagite  preferred  the  residence  of  Paris  to  that  of  Athens. 

92  The  stupendous  metamorphosis  was  performed  in  the 
ninth  century. 


OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE  73 

The  progress  of  Christianity  was  not  confined  to 
the  Roman  empire ;  and,  according  to  the  primitive 
fathers,  who  interpret  facts  by  prophecy,  the  new 
religion  within  a  century  after  the  death  of  its  divine 
author,  had  already  visited  every  part  of  the  globe. 
•^ There  exists  not,'^  says  Justin  Martyr,  "a  people, 
whether  Greek  or  barbarian,  or  any  other  race  of  men, 
by  whatsoever  appellation  or  manners  they  may  be 
distinguished,  however  ignorant  of  arts  or  agriculture, 
whether  they  dwell  under  tents,  or  wander  about  in 
covered  waggons,  among  whom  prayers  are  not  offered 
up  in  the  name  of  a  crucified  Jesus  to  the  Father  and 
Creator  of  all  things."  But  this  splendid  exaggera- 
tion, which  even  at  present  it  would  be  extremely 
difficult  to  reconcile  with  the  real  state  of  mankind, 
can  be  considered  only  as  the  rash  sally  of  a  devout 
but  careless  writer,  the  measure  of  whose  belief  was 
regulated  by  that  of  his  wishes.  But  neither  the 
belief  nor  the  wishes  of  the  fathers  can  alter  the  truth 
of  history.  It  will  still  remain  an  undoubted  fact, 
that  the  barbarians  of  Scythia  and  Germany  who  after- 
wards subverted  the  Roman  monarchy  were  involved 
in  the  darkness  of  paganism  ;  and  that  even  the  con- 
version of  Iberia,  of  Armenia,  or  of -Ethiopia,  was  not 
attempted  with  any  degree  of  success  till  the  sceptre 
was  in  the  hands  of  an  orthodox  emperor.^^  Before 
that  time  the  various  accidents  of  war  and  commerce 
might  indeed  diffuse  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  the 
gospel  among  the  tribes  of  Caledonia, ^^  and  among 
the    borderers    of  the  Rhine,   the   Danube,   and    the 

93  See  the  fourth  century  of  Mosheim's  History  of  the  Church. 
Many,  though  very  confused  circumstances,  that  relate  to  the 
conversion  of  Iberia  and  Armenia,  may  be  found  in  Moses  of 
Chorene,  1.  ii.  c.  78-89. 

9-1  According  to  Tertullian,  the  Christian  faith  had  penetrated 
into  parts  of  Britain  inaccessible  to  the  Roman  arms.  About  a 
century  afterwards,  Ossian,  the  son  of  Fingal,  is  said  to  have 
disputed,  in  his  extreme  old  age,  with  one  of  the  foreign  mis- 
sionaries, and  the  dispute  is  still  extant,  in  verse,  and  in  the  Erse 
language. 

VOL.  u.  c  2 


74  THE  DECLINE  AND   FALL 

Euphrates.^"  Beyond  the  last-mentioned  river,  Edessa 
was  distinguished  by  a  firm  and  early  adherence  to 
the  faith. ^  From  Edessa  the  principles  of  Christianity 
were  easily  introduced  into  the  Greek  and  Syrian  cities 
which  obeyed  the  successors  of  Artaxerxes  ;  but  they 
do  not  appear  to  have  made  any  deep  impression  on 
the  minds  of  the  Persians,  whose  religious  system,  by 
the  labours  of  a  well-disciplined  order  of  priests,  had 
been  constructed  with  much  more  art  and  solidity  than 
the  uncertain  mythology  of  Greece  and  Rome.^^ 

From  this  impartial,  though  imperfect,  survey  of 
the  progress  of  Christianity,  it  may,  perhaps,  seem 
probable  that  the  number  of  its  proselytes  has  been 
excessively  magnified  by  fear  on  the  one  side  and  by 
devotion  on  the  other.  According  to  the  irreproach- 
able testimony  of  Origen,  the  proportion  of  the  faith- 
ful was  very  inconsiderable  when  compared  with  the 
multitude  of  an  unbelieving  world  ;  but,  as  we  are 
left  without  any  distinct  information,  it  is  impossible 
to  determine,  and  it  is  diflficult  even  to  conjecture,  the 
real  numbers  of  the  primitive  Christians.  The  most 
favourable  calculation,  however,  that  can  be  deduced 
from  the  examples  of  Antioch  and  of  Rome  will  not 
permit  us  to  imagine  that  more  than  a  twentieth  part 
of  the  subjects  of  the  empire  had  enlisted  themselves 
under  the  banner  of  the  cross  before  the  important 
conversion  of  Constantino.  But  their  habits  of  faith, 
of  zeal,  and  of  union  seemed  to  multiply  their  numbers; 
and  the  same  causes  which  contributed  to  their  future 

95  The  Goths,  who  ravaged  Asia  in  the  reign  of  Gallienus, 
carried  away  great  numbers  of  captives  ;  some  of  whom  were 
Christians,  and  became  missionaries. 

^  The  legend  of  Abgarus,  fabulous  as  it  is,  affords  a  decisive 
proof  that,  many  years  before  Eusebius  wrote  his  history,  the 
greatest  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  Edessa  had  embraced  Chris- 
tianity. Their  rivals,  the  citizens  of  Carrhae,  adhered,  on  the 
contrary,  to  the  cause  of  Paganism,  as  late  as  the  sixth  century. 

^  According  to  Bardesanes  (ap.  Euseb.  Praepar.  Evangel.), 
there  were  some  Christians  in  Persia  before  the  end  of  the 
second  century.  In  the  time  of  Constantine  they  composed  a 
flourishing  church. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  75 

increase  served  to  render  their  actual  strength  more 
apparent  and  more  formidable. 

Such  is  the  constitution  of  civil  society  that,  whilst 
a  few  persons  are  distinguished  by  riches^  by  honours, 
and  by  knowledge,  the  body  of  the  people  is  condemned 
to  obscurity,  ignorance,  and  poverty.  The  Christian 
religion,  which  addressed  itself  to  the  whole  human 
race,  must  consequently  collect  a  far  greater  number 
of  proselytes  from  the  lower  than  from  the  superior 
ranks  of  life.  This  innocent  and  natural  circumstance 
has  been  improved  into  a  very  odious  imputation, 
which  seems  to  be  less  strenuously  denied  by  the 
apologists  than  it  is  urged  by  the  adversaries  of  the 
faith ;  that  the  new  sect  of  Christians  was  almost 
entirely  composed  of  the  dregs  of  the  populace,  of 
peasants  and  mechanics,  of  boys  and  women,  of  beggars 
and  slaves  ;  the  last  of  whom  might  sometimes  intro- 
duce the  missionaries  into  the  rich  and  noble  families 
to  which  they  belonged.  These  obscure  teachers 
(such  was  the  charge  of  malice  and  infidelity)  are  as 
mute  in  public  as  they  are  loquacious  and  dogmatical 
in  private.  Whilst  they  cautiously  avoid  the  danger- 
ous encounter  of  philosophers,  they  mingle  with  the 
rude  and  illiterate  crowd,  and  insinuate  themselves 
into  those  minds,  whom  their  age,  their  sex,  or  their 
education  has  the  best  disposed  to  receive  the  impres- 
sion of  superstitious  terrors. 

This  unfavourable  picture,  though  not  devoid  of  a 
faint  resemblance,  betrays,  by  its  dark  colouring  and 
distorted  features,  the  pencil  of  an  enemy.  As  the 
humble  faith  of  Christ  diffused  itself  through  the 
world,  it  was  embraced  by  several  persons  who  derived 
some  consequence  from  the  advantages  of  nature  or 
fortune.  Aristides,  who  presented  an  eloquent  apology 
to  the  emperor  Hadrian,  was  an  Athenian  philosopher. 
Justin  Martyr  had  sought  divine  knowledge  in  the 
schools  of  Zeno,  of  Aristotle,  of  Pythagoras,  and  of 
Plato,  before  he  fortunately  was  accosted  by  the  old 
man,  or  rather  the  angel,  who  turned  his  attention 
to  the   study  of  the  Jewish   prophets.      Clemens    of 


76  THE   DECLINE  AND   FALL 

Alexandria  had  acquired  much  various  reading  in  the 
Greek,  and  Tertullian  in  the  Latin,  language.  Julius 
Africanus  and  Origen  possessed  a  very  considerable 
share  of  the  learning  of  their  times  ;  and,  although 
the  style  of  Cyprian  is  very  different  from  that  of 
Lactantius,  we  might  almost  discover  that  both  those 
writers  had  been  public  teachers  of  rhetoric.  Even 
the  study  of  philosophy  was  at  length  introduced 
among  the  Christians,  but  it  was  not  always  productive 
of  the  most  salutary  effects  ;  knowledge  was  as  often 
the  parent  of  heresy  as  of  devotion,  and  the  description 
which  was  designed  for  the  followers  of  Artemon  may, 
with  equal  propriety,  be  applied  to  the  various  sects 
that  resisted  the  successors  of  the  apostles.  "  They 
presume  to  alter  the  holy  scriptures,  to  abandon  the 
ancient  rule  of  faith,  and  to  form  their  opinions  accor- 
ding to  the  subtile  precepts  of  logic.  The  science  of 
the  church  is  neglected  for  the  study  of  geometry,  and 
they  lose  sight  of  Heaven  while  they  are  employed  in 
measuring  the  earth.  Euclid  is  perpetually  in  their 
hands.  Aristotle  and  Theophrastus  are  the  objects  of 
their  admiration ;  and  they  express  an  uncommon 
reverence  for  the  works  of  Galen.  Their  errors  are 
derived  from  the  abuse  of  the  arts  and  sciences  of  the 
infidels,  and  they  corrupt  the  simplicity  of  the  Gospel 
by  the  refinements  of  human  reason."  ^^ 

Nor  can  it  be  affirmed  with  truth  that  the  advantages 
of  birth  and  fortune  were  always  separated  from  the 
profession  of  Christianity.  Several  Roman  citizens 
were  brought  before  the  tribunal  of  Pliny,  and  he  soon 
discovered  that  a  great  number  of  persons  of  every 
order  of  men  in  Bithynia  had  deserted  the  religion  of 
their  ancestors.  His  unsuspected  testimony  may,  in 
this  instance,  obtain  more  credit  than  the  bold  chal- 
lenge of  Tertullian,  when  he  addresses  himself  to  the 
fears  as  well  as  to  the  humanity  of  the  proconsul  of 
Africa,  by  assuring  him  that,  if  he  persists  in  his  cruel 

88  It  may  be  hoped  that  none,  except  the  heretics,  gave  oc- 
casion to  the  complaint  of  Celus  that  the  Christians  were  per- 
petually correcting  and  altering  their  Gospels. 


OF  THE   r.OMAN   EMPIRE  77 

intentions,  he  must  decimate  Carthage,  and  that  he 
will  find  among  the  guilty  many  persons  of  his  own 
rank,  senators  and  matrons  of  nohlest  extraction,  and 
the  friends  or  relations  of  his  most  intimate  friends. 
It  appears,  however,  that  about  forty  years  afterwards 
the  emperor  Valerian  was  persuaded  of  the  truth  of 
this  assertion,  since  in  one  of  his  rescripts  he  evidently 
supposes  that  senators,  Roman  knights,  and  ladies 
of  quality  were  engaged  in  the  Christian  sect  The 
church  still  continued  to  increase  its  outward  splen- 
dour as  it  lost  its  internal  purity ;  and  in  the  reign  of 
Diocletian  the  palace,  the  courts  of  justice,  and  even 
the  army  concealed  a  multitude  of  Christians  who  en- 
deavoured to  reconcile  the  interests  of  the  present 
with  those  of  a  future  life. 

And  yet  these  exceptions  are  either  too  few  in 
number,  or  too  recent  in  time,  entirely  to  remove 
the  imputation  of  ignorance  and  obscurity  which  has 
been  so  arrogantly  cast  on  the  first  proselytes  of 
Christianity.  Instead  of  employing  in  our  defence 
the  fictions  of  later  ages,  it  will  be  more  prudent  to 
convert  the  occasion  of  scandal  into  a  subject  of  edi- 
fication. Our  serious  thoughts  will  suggest  to  us  that 
the  apostles  themselves  were  chosen  by  providence 
among  the  fishermen  of  Galilee,  and  that,  the  lower  we 
depress  the  temporal  condition  of  the  first  Christians, 
the  more  reason  we  shall  find  to  admire  their  merit 
and  success.  It  is  incumbent  on  us  diligently  to  re- 
member that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  was  promised  to 
the  poor  in  spirit,  and  that  minds  aflSicted  by  calamity 
and  the  contempt  of  mankind  cheerfully  listen  to  the 
divine  promise  of  future  happiness  ;  while,  on  the  con- 
trary, the  fortunate  are  satisfied  with  the  possession  of 
this  world ;  and  the  wise  abuse  in  doubt  and  dispute 
their  vain  superiority  of  reason  and  knowledge. 

We  stand  in  need  of  such  reflections  to  comfort  us 
for  the  loss  of  some  illustrious  characters,  which  in 
our  eyes  might  have  seemed  the  most  worthy  of  the 
heavenly  present.  The  names  of  Seneca,  of  the  elder 
and  the  younger  Pliny,  of  Tacitus,    of  Plutarch,    of 


78  THE  DECLINE  AND  FALL 

Galen^  of  the  slave  Epictetus,  and  of  the  emperor 
Marcus  Antoninus,  adorn  the  age  in  which  they 
flourished_,  and  exalt  the  dignity  of  human  nature. 
They  filled  with  glory  their  respective  stations,  either 
in  active  or  contemplative  life  ;  their  excellent  under- 
standings were  improved  by  study  ;  Philosophy  had 
purified  their  minds  from  the  prejudices  of  the  popular 
superstition  ;  and  their  days  were  spent  in  the  pursuit 
of  truth  and  the  practice  of  virtue.  Yet  all  these  sages 
(it  is  no  less  an  object  of  surprise  than  of  concern) 
overlooked  or  rejected  the  perfection  of  the  Christian 
system.  Their  language  or  their  silence  equally  dis- 
cover their  contempt  for  the  growing  sect,  which  in 
their  time  had  diffused  itself  over  the  Roman  empire. 
Those  among  them  who  condescend  to  mention  the 
Christians  consider  them  only  as  obstinate  and  perverse 
enthusiasts,  who  exacted  an  implicit  submission  to 
their  mysterious  doctrines,  without  being  able  to  pro- 
duce a  single  argument  that  could  engage  the  attention 
of  men  of  sense  and  learning.^ 

It  is  at  least  doubtful  whether  any  of  these  philo- 
sophers perused  the  apologies  which  the  primitive 
Christians  repeatedly  published  in  behalf  of  themselves 
and  of  their  religion  ;  but  it  is  much  to  be  lamented 
that  such  a  cause  was  not  defended  by  abler  advocates. 
Tliey  expose  with  superfluous  wit  and  eloquence  the 
extravagance  of  Polytheism.  They  interest  our  com- 
passion by  displaying  the  innocence  and  sufferings  of 
their  injured  brethren.  But,  when  they  would  demon- 
strate the  divine  origin  of  Christianity,  they  insist 
much  more  strongly  on  the  predictions  which  an- 
nounced, than  on  the  miracles  which  accompanied, 
the  appearance  of  the  Messiah.  Their  favourite  argu- 
ment might  serve  to  edify  a  Christian  or  to  convert 

9^  Dr.  Lardner,  in  his  first  and  second  volume  of  Jewish  and 
Christian  testimonies,  collects  and  illustrates  those  of  Pliny  the 
younger,  of  Tacitus,  of  Galen,  of  Marcus  Antoninus,  and  per- 
haps of  Epictetus  (for  it  is  doubtful  whether  that  philosopher 
means  to  speak  of  the  Christians).  The  new  sect  is  totally  un- 
noticed by  Seneca,  the  elder  Pliny,  and  Plutarch. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  79 

a  Jew,  since  both  the  one  and  the  other  acknowledge 
the  authority  of  those  prophecies,  and  both  are 
obliged,  with  devout  reverence,  to  search  for  their 
sense  and  their  accomplishment.  But  this  mode  of 
persuasion  loses  much  of  its  weight  and  influence, 
when  it  is  addressed  to  those  who  neither  understand 
nor  respect  the  Mosaic  dispensation  and  the  prophetic 
style.  In  the  unskilful  hands  of  Justin  and  of  the  suc- 
ceeding apologists,  the  sublime  meaning  of  the  Hebrew 
oracles  evaporates  in  distant  types,  affected  conceits, 
and  cold  allegories  ;  and  even  their  authenticity  was 
rendered  suspicious  to  an  unenlightened  Gentile  by 
the  mixture  of  pious  forgeries,  which,  under  the  names 
of  Orpheus,  Hermes,  and  the  Sibyls, ^'^  were  obtruded 
on  him  as  of  equal  value  with  the  genuine  inspirations 
of  Heaven.  The  adoption  of  fraud  and  sophistry  in 
the  defence  of  revelation  too  often  remir''^  us  of  the 
injudicious  conduct  of  those  poets  who  load  their 
invulnerable  heroes  with  a  useless  weight  of  cumber- 
some and  brittle  armour. 

But  how  shall  we  excuse  the  supine  inattention  of 
the  Pagan  and  philosophic  world  to  those  evidences 
which  were  presented  by  the  hand  of  Omnipotence, 
not  to  their  reason,  but  to  their  senses }  During  the 
age  of  Christ,  of  his  apostles,  and  of  their  first  disciples, 
the  doctrine  which  they  preached  was  confirmed  by 
innumerable  prodigies.  The  lame  walked,  the  blind 
saw,  the  sick  were  healed,  the  dead  were  raised, 
daemons  were  expelled,  and  the  laws  of  Nature  were 
frequently  suspended  for  the  benefit  of  the  church. 
But  the  sages  of  Greece  and  Rome  turned  aside  from 
the  awful  spectacle,  and,  pursuing  the  ordinary  occupa- 
tions of  life  and  study,  appeared  unconscious  of  any 

100  The  Philosophers,  who  derided  the  more  ancient  predic- 
tions of  the  Sibyls,  would  easily  have  detected  the  Jewish  and 
Christian  forgeries,  which  have  been  so  triumphantly  quoted 
by  the  fathers,  from  Justin  Martyr  to  Lactantius.  When  the 
Sibylline  verses  had  performed  their  appointed  task,  they,  like 
the  system  of  the  millennium,  were  quietly  laid  aside.  The 
Christian  Sibyl  had  unluckily  fixed  the  ruin  of  Rome  for  the 
year  195,  A.u.c.  948. 


80  THE   DECLINE  AND   FALL 

alterations  in  the  moral  or  physical  government  of  the 
world.  Under  the  reign  of  TiberiuS;,  the  whole  earth, ^*^^ 
or  at  least  a  celebrated  province  of  the  Roman  empire, 
was  involved  in  a  praeternatural  darkness  of  three 
hours.  Even  this  miraculous  event,  which  ought  to 
have  excited  the  wonder,  the  curiosity,  and  the  devotion 
of  mankind,  passed  without  notice  in  an  age  of  science 
and  history.^02  j^  happened  during  the  lifetime  of 
Seneca  and  the  elder  Pliny,  who  must  have  experienced 
the  immediate  effects,  or  received  the  earliest  intelli- 
gence, of  the  prodigy.  Each  of  these  philosophers,  in  a 
laborious  work,  has  recorded  all  the  great  phenomena 
of  Nature,  earthquakes,  meteors,  comets,  and  eclipses, 
which  his  indefatigable  curiosity  could  collect.  Both 
the  one  and  the  other  have  omitted  to  mention  the 
greatest  phenomenon  to  which  the  mortal  eye  has  been 
witness  since  the  creation  of  the  globe.  A  distinct 
chapter  of  Pliny  is  designed  for  eclipses  of  an  extra- 
ordinary nature  and  unusual  duration  ;  but  he  contents 
himself  with  describing  the  singular  defect  of  light 
which  followed  the  murder  of  Caesar,  when,  during  the 
greatest  part  of  the  year,  the  orb  of  the  sun  appeared 
pale  and  without  splendour.  This  season  of  obscurity, 
which  cannot  surely  be  compared  with  the  praeter- 
natural darkness  of  the  Passion,  had  been  already 
celebrated  by  most  of  the  poets  and  historians  of  that 
memorable  age. 

^01  The  fathers,  as  they  are  drawn  out  in  battle  array  by  Dom 
Calmet  (Dissertations  sur  la  Bible,  torn.  iii.  pp.  295-308),  seem 
to  cover  the  whole  earth  with  darkness,  in  which  they  are 
followed  by  most  of  the  moderns. 

i<^  The  celebrated  passage  of  Phlegon  is  now  wisely  aban- 
doned. When  TertuUian  assures  the  Pagans  that  the  mention 
of  the  prodigy  is  found  in  Arcanis  (not  Archivis)  vestris  (see  his 
Apology,  c.  21),  he  probably  appeals  to  the  Sibylline  verses, 
which  relate  it  exactly  in  the  words  of  the  gospel. 


OF  THE  ROMAN   EMPIRE  81 


CHAPTER   XVI 

THE  CONDUCT  OF  THE  ROMAN  GOVERNMENT  TOWARDS 
THE  CHRISTIANS,  FROM  THE  REIGN  OF  NERO  TO 
THAT    OF    CONSTANTINE 

If  we  seriously  consider  the  purity  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, the  sanctity  of  its  moral  precepts,  and  the  inno- 
cent as  well  as  austere  lives  of  the  greater  number  of  those 
who,  during  the  first  ages,  embraced  the  faith  of  the 
gospel,  we  should  naturally  suppose  that  so  benevolent  a 
doctrine  would  have  been  received  with  due  reverence, 
even  by  the  unbelieving  world  ;  that  the  learned  and 
the  polite,  however  they  might  deride  the  miracles, 
would  have  esteemed  the  virtues  of  the  new  sect  ;  and 
that  the  magistrates,  instead  of  persecuting,  would 
have  protected  an  order  of  men  who  yielded  the  most 
passive  obedience  to  the  laws,  though  they  declined 
the  active  cares  of  war  and  government.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  we  recollect  the  universal  toleration  of 
Polytheism,  as  it  was  invariably  maintained  by  the 
faith  of  the  people,  the  incredulity  of  philosophers, 
and  the  policy  of  the  Roman  senate  and  emperors,  we 
are  at  a  loss  to  discover  what  new  offence  the  Christians 
had  committed,  what  new  provocation  could  exasperate 
the  mild  indifference  of  antiquity,  and  what  new 
motives  could  urge  the  Roman  princes,  who  beheld, 
without  concern,  a  thousand  forms  of  religion  subsist- 
ing in  peace  under  their  gentle  sway,  to  inflict  a  severe 
punishment  on  any  part  of  their  subjects,  who  had 
chosen  for  themselves  a  singular,  but  an  inoffensive, 
mode  of  faith  and  worship. 

The  religious  policy  of  the  ancient  world  seems  to 
have  assumed  a  more  stern  and  intolerant  character, 
to  oppose  the  progress  of  Christianity.     About  four- 


82  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

score  years  after  the  death  of  Christy  his  innocent 
disciples  were  punished  with  death,  by  the  sentence  of 
a  proconsul  of  the  most  amiable  and  philosophic  char- 
acter, and,  according  to  the  laws  of  an  emperor,  dis- 
tinguished by  the  wisdom  and  justice  of  his  general 
administration.  The  apologies  which  were  repeatedly 
addressed  to  the  successors  of  Trajan,  are  filled  with 
the  most  pathetic  complaints,  that  the  Christians,  who 
obeyed  the  dictates,  and  solicited  the  liberty,  of 
conscience,  were  alone,  among  all  the  subjects  of  the 
Roman  empire,  excluded  from  the  common  benefits  of 
their  auspicious  government.  The  deaths  of  a  few 
eminent  martyrs  have  been  recorded  with  care  ;  and 
from  the  time  that  Christianity  was  invested  with  the 
supreme  power,  the  governors  of  the  church  have  been 
no  less  diligently  employed  in  displaying  the  cruelty, 
than  in  imitating  the  conduct,  of  their  Pagan  adver- 
saries. To  separate  (if  it  be  possible)  a  few  authentic, 
as  well  as  interesting,  facts,  from  an  undigested  mass 
of  fiction  and  error,  and  to  relate,  in  a  clear  and 
rational  manner,  the  causes,  the  extent,  the  duration, 
and  the  most  important  circumstances  of  the  persecu- 
tions to  which  the  first  Christians  w^ere  exposed,  is  the 
design  of  the  present  Chapter. 

The  sectaries  of  a  persecuted  religion,  depressed  by 
fear,  animated  with  resentment,  and  perhaps  heated 
by  enthusiasm,  are  seldom  in  a  proper  temper  of  mind 
calmly  to  investigate,  or  candidly  to  appreciate,  the 
motives  of  their  enemies,  which  often  escape  the 
impartial  and  discerning  view  even  of  those  who  are 
placed  at  a  secure  distance  from  the  flames  of  persecu- 
tion. A  reason  has  been  assigned  for  the  conduct  of 
the  emperors  towards  the  primitive  Christians,  which 
may  appear  the  more  specious  and  probable  as  it  is 
drawn  from  the  acknowledged  genius  of  Polytheism. 
It  has  already  been  observed  that  the  religious  con- 
cord of  the  world  was  principally  supported  by  the 
implicit  assent  and  reverence  which  the  nations  of 
antiquity  expressed  for  their  respective  traditions  and 
ceremonies.     It  might  therefore  be  expected  that  they 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  83 

would  unite  with  indignation  against  any  sect  of  people 
which  should  separate  itself  from  the  communion  of 
mankind,  and,  claiming  the  exclusive  possession  of 
divine  knowledge,  should :disclain  every  form  of  worship, 
except  its  own,  as  impious  and  idolatrous.  The  rights 
of  toleration  were  held  by  mutual  indulgence  ;  they 
were  justly  forfeited  by  a  refusal  of  the  accustomed 
tribute.  As  the  payment  of  this  tribute  was  inflexibly 
refused  by  the  Jews,  and  by  them  alone,  the  considera- 
tion of  the  treatment  which  they  experienced  from  the 
Roman  magistrates  will  serve  to  explain  how  far  these 
speculations  are  justified  by  facts,  and  will  lead  us 
to  discover  the  true  causes  of  the  persecution  of 
Christianity. 

Without  repeating  what  has  been  already  mentioned 
of  the  reverence  of  the  Roman  princes  and  governors 
for  the  temple  of  Jerusalem,  we  shall  only  observe  that 
the  destruction  of  the  temple  and  city  was  accompanied 
and  followed  by  every  circumstance  that  could  ex- 
asperate the  minds  of  the  conquerors,  and  authorise 
religious  persecution  by  the  most  specious  arguments 
of  political  justice  and  the  public  safety.  From  the 
reign  of  Nero  to  that  of  Antoninus  Pius,  the  Jews 
discovered  a  fierce  impatience  of  the  dominion  of 
Rome,  which  repeatedly  broke  out  in  the  most  furious 
massacres  and  insurrections.  Humanity  is  shocked  at 
the  recital  of  the  horrid  cruelties  which  they  committed 
in  the  cities  of  Egypt,  of  Cyprus,  and  of  Cyrene,  where 
they  dwelt  in  treacherous  friendship  with  the  un- 
suspecting natives  ;  ^  and  we  are  tempted  to  applaud 
the  severe  retaliation  which  was  exercised  by  the  arms 
of  the  legions  against  a  race  of  fanatics,  whose  dire  and 
credulous  superstition  seemed  to  render  them  the 
implacable  enemies  not  only  of  the  Roman  government, 

1  In  Cyrene  they  massacred  220,000  Greeks  ;  in  Cyprus, 
240,000  ;  in  Egypt,  a  very  great  multitude.  Many  of  these 
unhappy  victims  were  sawed  asunder,  according  to  a  precedent 
to  which  David  had  given  the  sanction  of  his  example.  The 
victorious  Jews  devoured  the  flesh,  licked  up  the  blood,  and 
twisted  the  entrails  like  a  girdle  round  their  bodies. 


84  THE   DECLINE   AND    FALL 

but  of  human  kind.^  The  enthusiasm  of  the  Jews  was 
supported  by  the  opinion  that  it  was  unlawful  for  them 
to  pay  taxes  to  an  idolatrous  master ;  and  by  the 
flattering  promise  which  they  derived  from  their 
ancient  oracles,  that  a  conquering  Messiah  would  soon 
arise,  destined  to  break  their  fetters  and  to  invest  the 
favourites  of  heaven  with  the  empire  of  the  earth.  It 
was  by  announcing  himself  as  their  long-expected 
deliverer,  and  by  calling  on  all  the  descendants  of 
Abraham  to  assert  the  hope  of  Israel,  that  the  famous 
Barchochebas  collected  a  formidable  army,  with  which 
he  resisted,  during  two  years,  the  power  of  the 
emperor  Hadrian. 

Notwithstanding  these  repeated  provocations,  the 
resentment  of  the  Roman  princes  expired  after  the 
victory  ;  nor  were  their  apprehensions  continued  be- 
yond the  period  of  war  and  danger.  By  the  general 
indulgence  of  polytheism,  and  by  the  mild  temper  of 
Antoninus  Pius,  the  Jews  were  restored  to  their  ancient 
privileges,  and  once  more  obtained  the  permission  of 
circumcising  their  children,  with  the  easy  restraint 
that  they  should  never  confer  on  any  foreign  proselyte 
that  distinguishing  mark  of  the  Hebrew  race.  The 
numerous  remains  of  that  people,  though  they  were 
still  excluded  from  the  precincts  of  Jerusalem,  were 

f>ermitted  to  form  and  to  maintain  considerable  estab- 
ishments  both  in  Italy  and  in  the  provinces,  to  acquire 
the  freedom  of  Rome,  to  enjoy  municipal  honours,  and 
to  obtain,  at  the  same  time,  an  exemption  from  the 
burdensome  and  expensive  offices  of  society.  The 
moderation  or  the  contempt  of  the  Romans  gave  a 
legal  sanction  to  the  form  of  ecclesiastical  police  which 
was  instituted  by  the  vanquished  sect.  The  patriarch, 
who  had  fixed  his  residence  at  Tiberias,  was  empowered 
to  appoint  his  subordinate  ministers  and  apostles,  to 

2  Without  repeating  the  well-known  narratives  of  Josephus, 
we  may  learn  from  Dion  (1.  Ixix.  p.  1162)  that  in  Hadrian's 
war  580,000  Jews  were  cut  off  by  the  sword,  besides  an 
infinite  number  which  perished  by  famine,  by  disease,  and  by 
fire. 


OF]  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  85 

exercise  a  domestic  jurisdiction,  and  to  receive  from 
his  dispersed  brethren  an  annual  contribution. ^  New 
synagogues  were  frequently  erected  in  the  principal 
cities  of  the  empire  ;  and  the  sabbaths,  the  fasts,  and 
the  festivals,  which  were  either  commanded  by  the 
Mosaic  law  or  enjoined  by  the  traditions  of  the  Rabbis, 
were  celebrated  in  the  most  solemn  and  public  manner.* 
Such  gentle  treatment  insensibly  assuaged  the  stem 
temper  of  the  Jews.  Awakened  from  their  dream  of 
prophecy  and  conquest,  they  assumed  the  behaviour 
of  peaceable  and  industrious  subjects.  Their  irre- 
concileable  hatred  of  mankind,  instead  of  flaming  out 
in  acts  of  blood  and  violence,  evaporated  in  less 
dangerous  gratifications.  They  embraced  every  oppor- 
tunity of  over-reaching  the  idolaters  in  trade  ;  and 
they  pronounced  secret  and  ambiguous  imprecations 
against  the  haughty  kingdom  of  Edom.° 

Since  the  Jews,  who  rejected  with  abhorrence  the 
deities  adored  by  their  sovereign  and  by  their  fellow- 
subjects,  enjoyed,  however,  the  free  exercise  of  their 
unsocial  religion  ;  there  must  have  existed  some  other 
cause,  which  exposed  the  disciples  of  Christ  to  those 
severities  from  which  the  posterity  of  Abraham  was 
exempt  The  diiference  between  them  is  simple  and 
obvious  ;  but,  according  to  the  sentiments  of  antiquity, 
it  was  of  the  highest  importance.  The  Jews  were  a 
nation ;  the  Christians  were  a  sect ;  and,  if  it  was 
natural  for  every  community  to  respect  the  sacred 
institutions  of  their  neighbours,  it  was  incumbent  on 

5  The  office  of  Patriarch  was  suppressed  by  Theodosius  the 
younger. 

4  We  need  only  mention  the  piorim,  or  deliverance  of  the 
Jews  from  the  rage  of  Haman,  which,  till  the  reign  of  Theo- 
dosius, was  celebrated  with  insolent  triumph  and  riotous  in- 
temperance. 

5  According  to  the  false  Josephus,  Tsepho,  the  grandson  of 
Esau,  conducted  into  Italy  the  army  of  ^neas,  king  of  Carthage. 
Another  colony  of  Idumasans,  flying  from  the  sword  of  David, 
took  refuge  in  the  dominions  of  Romulus.  For  these,  or  for 
other  reasons  of  equal  weight,  the  name  of  Edom  was  applied 
by  the  Jews  to  the  Roman  empire. 


86  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

them  to  persevere  in  those  of  their  ancestors.  The 
voice  of  oracles,  the  precepts  of  philosophers  and  the 
authority  of  the  laws  unanimously  enforced  this  national 
obligation.  By  their  lofty  claim  of  superior  sanctity, 
the  Jews  might  provoke  the  Polytheists  to  consider 
them  as  an  odious  and  impure  race.  By  disdaining 
the  intercourse  of  other  nations  they  might  deserve 
their  contempt.  The  laws  of  Moses  might  be  for  the 
most  part  frivolous  or  absurd  ;  yet,  since  they  had 
been  received  during  many  ages  by  a  large  society, 
his  followers  were  justified  by  the  example  of  mankind  ; 
and  it  was  universally  acknowledged  that  they  had  a 
right  to  practise  what  it  would  have  been  criminal  in 
them  to  neglect.  But  this  principle  which  protected 
the  Jewish  synagogue  afforded  not  any  favour  or 
security  to  the  primitive  church.  By  embracing  the 
faith  of  the  Gospel,  the  Christians  incurred  the  sup- 
posed guilt  of  an  unnatural  and  unpardonable  offence. 
They  dissolved  the  sacred  ties  of  custom  and  education, 
violated  the  religious  institutions  of  their  country, 
and  presumptuously  despised  whatever  their  fathers 
had  believed  as  true,  or  had  reverenced  as  sacred. 
Nor  was  this  apostacy  (if  we  may  use  the  expression) 
merely  of  a  partial  or  local  kind  ;  since  the  pious 
deserter  who  withdrew  himself  from  the  temples  of 
Egypt  or  Syria  would  equally  disdain  to  seek  an  asylum 
in  those  of  Athens  or  Carthage.  Every  Christian  re- 
jected with  contempt  the  superstitions  of  his  family, 
his  city,  and  his  province.  The  whole  body  of  Chris- 
tians unanimously  refused  to  hold  any  communion 
with  the  gods  of  Rome,  of  the  empire,  and  of  mankind. 
It  was  in  vain  that  the  oppressed  believer  asserted  the 
inalienable  rights  of  conscience  and  private  judgment. 
Though  his  situation  might  excite  the  pity,  his  argu- 
ments could  never  reach  the  understanding,  either  of 
the  philosophic  or  of  the  believing  part  of  the  Pagan 
world.  To  their  apprehensions,  it  was  no  less  a  matter 
of  surprise  that  any  individuals  should  entertain 
scruples  against  complying  with  the  established  mode 
of  worship,  than  if  they  had  conceived  a  sudden  abhor- 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  87 

rence  to  the  manners,  the  dress,  or  the  language  of 
their  native  country.^ 

The  surprise  of  the  Pagans  was  soon  succeeded  by 
resentment ;  and  the  most  pious  of  men  were  exposed 
to  the  unjust  but  dangerous  imputation  of  impiety. 
Malice  and  prejudice  concurred  in  representing  the 
Christians  as  a  society  of  atheists,  who,  by  the  most 
daring  attack  on  the  religious  constitution  of  the 
empire,  had  merited  the  severest  animadversion  of  the 
civil  magistrate.  They  had  separated  themselves  (they 
gloried  in  the  confession)  from  every  mode  of  super- 
stition which  was  received  in  any  part  of  the  globe 
by  the  various  temper  of  polytheism  ;  but  it  was  not 
altogether  so  evident  what  deity  or  what  form  of 
worship  they  had  substituted  to  the  gods  and  temples 
of  antiquity.  The  pure  and  sublime  idea  which  they 
entertained  of  the  Supreme  Being  escaped  the  gross 
conception  of  the  Pagan  multitude,  who  were  at  a  loss 
to  discover  a  spiritual  and  solitary  God,  that  was 
neither  represented  under  any  corporeal  figure  or 
visible  symbol,  nor  was  adored  with  the  accustomed 
pomp  of  libations  and  festivals,  of  altars  and  sacrifices. 
The  sages  of  Greece  and  Rome,  who  had  elevated  their 
minds  to  the  contemplation  of  the  existence  and  attri- 
butes of  the  First  Cause,  were  induced,  by  reason  or 
by  vanity,  to  reserve  for  themselves  and  their  chosen 
disciples  the  privilege  of  this  philosophical  devotion." 
They  were  far  from  admitting  the  prejudices  of  man- 
kind as  the  standard  of  truth  ;  but  they  considered 
them  as  flowing  from  the  original  disposition  of  human 
nature  ;  and  they  supposed  that  any  popular  mode  of 
faith  and  worship  which  presumed  to  disclaim  the 
assistance  of  the  senses  would,  in  proportion  as  it 
receded  from  superstition,  find  itself  incapable  of 
restraining  the  wanderings  of  the  fancy  and  the  visions 

8  From  the  arguments  of  Celsus,  as  they  are  represented  and 
refuted  by  Origen,  we  may  clearly  discover  the  distinction  that 
was  made  between  the  Jewish  people  and  the  Christian  sect. 

7  It  is  difficult  (says  Plato)  to  attain,  and  dangerous  to  pub- 
lish, the  knowledge  of  the  true  God. 


88  THE  DECLINE   AND    FALL 

of  fanaticism.  The  careless  glance  Avhich  men  of  wit 
and  learning-  condescended  to  cast  on  the  Christian 
revelation  served  only  to  confirm  their  hasty  opinion, 
and  to  persuade  them  that  the  principle,  which  they 
might  have  revered,  of  the  divine  unity  was  defaced 
by  the  wild  enthusiasm,  and  annihilated  by  the  airy 
speculations,  of  the  new  sectaries.  The  author  of  a 
celebrated  dialogue  which  has  been  attributed  to 
Lucian,  whilst  he  affects  to  treat  the  mysterious  sub- 
ject of  the  Trinity  in  a  style  of  ridicule  and  contempt, 
betrays  his  own  ignorance  of  the  weakness  of  human 
reason,  and  of  the  inscrutable  nature  of  the  divine 
perfections. 

It  might  appear  less  surprising  that  the  founder  of 
Christianity  should  not  only  be  revered  by  his  disciples 
as  a  sage  and  a  prophet,  but  that  he  should  be  adored 
as  a  God.  The  Polytheists  were  disposed  to  adopt 
every  article  of  faith  which  seemed  to  oiFer  any  re- 
semblance, however  distant  or  imperfect,  with  the 
popular  mythology  ;  and  the  legends  of  Bacchus,  of 
Hercules,  and  of  ^sculapius  had,  in  some  measure, 
prepared  their  imagination  for  the  appearance  of  the 
Son  of  God  under  a  human  forra.^  But  they  were 
astonished  that  the  Christians  should  abandon  the 
temples  of  those  ancient  heroes  who,  in  the  infancy  of 
the  world,  had  invented  arts,  instituted  laws,  and 
vanquished  the  tyrants  or  monsters  who  infested  the 
earth  ;  in  order  to  choose,  for  the  exclusive  object  of 
their  religious  worship,  an  obscure  teacher  who,  in  a 
recent  age,  and  among  a  barbarous  people,  had  fallen 
a  sacrifice  either  to  the  malice  of  his  own  countrymen 
or  to  the  jealousy  of  the  Roman  government.  The 
Pagan  multitude,  reserving  their  gratitude  for  temporal 
benefits  alone,  rejected  the  inestimable  present  of  life 
and  immortality  which  was  offered  to  mankind  by  Jesus 

8  According  to  Justin  Martyr  (Apolog.  Major,  c.  70-85),  the 
daemon,  who  had  gained  some  imperfect  knowledge  of  the 
prophecies,  purposely  contrived  this  resemblance,  which  might 
deter,  though  by  different  means,  both  the  people  and  the 
philosophers  from  embracing  the  faith  of  Christ. 


OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE  89 

of  Nazareth.  His  mild  constancy  in  the  midst  of  cruel 
and  voluntary  sufferings,  his  universal  benevolence, 
and  the  sublime  simplicity  of  his  actions  and  character 
were  insufficient,  in  the  opinion  of  those  carnal  men, 
to  compensate  for  the  want  of  fame,  of  empire,  and  of 
success  ;  and,  whilst  they  refused  to  acknowledge  his 
stupendous  triumph  over  the  powers  of  darkness  and 
of  the  grave,  they  misrepresented,  or  they  insulted, 
the  equivocal  birth,  wandering  life,  and  ignominious 
death  of  the  divine  Author  of  Christianity."  ^ 

The  personal  guilt  which  every  Christian  had  con- 
tracted, in  thus  preferring  his  private  sentiment  to  the 
national  religion,  was  aggravated,  in  a  very  high 
degree,  by  the  number  and  union  of  the  criminals. 
It  is  well  known,  and  has  been  already  observed,  that 
Roman  policy  viewed  with  the  utmost  jealousy  and 
distrust  any  association  among  its  subjects  ;  and  that 
the  privileges  of  private  corporations,  though  formed 
for  the  most  harmless  or  beneficial  purposes,  were 
bestowed  with  a  very  sparing  hand.^*^  The  religious 
assemblies  of  the  Christians,  who  had  separated  them- 
selves from  the  public  worship,  appeared  of  a  much 
less  innocent  nature  :  they  were  illegal  in  their  principle 
and  in  their  consequences  might  become  dangerous ; 
nor  were  the  emperors  conscious  that  they  violated 
the  laws  of  justice,  when,  for  the  peace  of  society,  they 
prohibited  those  secret  and  sometimes  nocturnal 
meetings.  ^1  The  pious  disobedience  of  the  Christians 
made  their  conduct,  or  perhaps  their  designs,  appear 

9  In  the  first  and  second  books  of  Origen,  Celsus  treats  the 
birth  and  character  of  our  Saviour  with  the  most  impious  con- 
tempt. The  orator  Libanius  praises  Porphyry  and  Julian  for 
confuting  the  folly  of  a  sect  which  styled  a  dead  man  of  Pales- 
tine God,  and  the  Son  of  God. 

10  The  emperor  Trajan  refused  to  incorporate  a  company  of 
150  firemen,  for  the  use  of  the  city  of  Nicomedia,  He  disliked 
all  associations. 

11  The  proconsul  Pliny  had  published  a  general  edict  against 
unlawful  meetings.  The  prudence  of  the  Christians  suspended 
their  Agapae  ;  but  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  omit  the  exzr- 
cise  of  public  worship.     • 


90  THE  DECLINE   AND    FALL 

in  a  much  more  serious  and  criminal  lig-ht ;  and  the 
Roman  princes,  who  might  perhaps  have  suffered  them- 
selves to  be  disarmed  by  a  ready  submission,  deeming 
their  honour  concerned  in  the  execution  of  their 
commands,  sometimes  attempted  by  rigorous  punish- 
ments to  subdue  this  independent  spirit,  which  boldly 
acknowledged  an  authority  superior  to  that  of  the 
magistrate.  The  extent  and  duration  of  this  spiritual 
conspiracy  seemed  to  render  it  every  day  more  de- 
serving of  his  animadversion.  We  have  already  seen 
that  the  active  and  successful  zeal  of  the  Christians 
had  insensibly  diffused  them  through  every  province 
and  almost  every  city  of  the  empire.  The  new  con- 
verts seemed  to  renounce  their  family  and  country, 
that  they  might  connect  themselves  in  an  indissoluble 
bond  of  union  with  a  peculiar  society,  which  every- 
where assumed  a  different  character  from  the  rest  of 
mankind.  Their  gloomy  and  austere  aspect,  their 
abhorrence  of  the  common  business  and  pleasures  of 
life,  and  their  frequent  predictions  of  impending 
calamities,^^  inspired  the  Pagans  with  the  apprehension 
of  some  danger  which  would  arise  from  the  new  sect, 
the  more  alarming  as  it  was  the  more  obscure.  "What- 
ever," says  Pliny,  "  may  be  the  principle  of  their  con- 
duct, their  inflexible  obstinacy  appeared  deserving  of 
punishment." 

The  precautions  with  which  the  disciples  of  Christ 
performed  the  offices  of  religionjwere  at  first  dictated 
by  fear  and  necessity  ;  but  they  were  continued  from 
choice.  By  imitating  the  awful  secrecy  which  reigned 
in  the  Eleusinian  mysteries,  the  Christians  had  flattered 
themselves  that  they  should  render  their  sacred  insti- 
tutions more  respectable  in  the  eyes  of  the  Pagan 
world.  But  the  event,  as  it  often  happens  to  the 
operations  of  subtile  policy,  deceived  their  wishes  and 

12  As  the  prophecies  of  the  Antichrist,  approaching  conflagra- 
tion, &c. ,  provoked  those  Pagans  whom  they  did  not  convert, 
they  were  mentioned  with  caution  and  reserve ;  and  the  Mon- 
tanists  were  censured  for  disclosing  too  freely  the  dangerous 
secret.  * 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  91 

their  expectations.  It  was  concluded  that  they  only 
concealed  what  they  would  have  blushed  to  disclose 
Their  mistaken  prudence  afforded  an  opportunity  for 
malice  to  invent^  and  for  suspicious  credulity  to  believe, 
the  horrid  tales  which  described  the  Christians  as  the 
most  wicked  of  human  kind,  who  practised  in  their 
dark  recesses  every  abomination  that  a  depraved  fancy 
could  sug-g-est,  and  who  solicited  the  favour  of  their 
unknown  God  by  the  sacrifice  of  every  moral  virtue. 
There  were  many  who  pretended  to  confess  or  to  relate 
the  ceremonies  of  this  abhorred  society.  It  was  as- 
serted, "  that  a  new-born  infant,  entirely  covered  over 
with  flour,  was  presented,  like  some  mystic  symbol  of 
initiation,  to  the  knife  of  the  proselyte,  who  unknow- 
ingly inflicted  many  a  secret  and  mortal  wound  on  the 
innocent  victim  of  his  error ;  that,  as  soon  as  the  cruel 
deed  was  perpetrated,  the  sectaries  drank  up  the  blood, 
greedily  tore  asunder  the  quivering  members,  and 
pledged  themselves  to  eternal  secrecy,  by  a  mutual 
consciousness  of  guilt.  It  was  as  confidently  affirmed 
that  this  inhuman  sacrifice  was  succeeded  by  a  suitable 
entertainment,  in  which  intemperance  served  as  a 
provocative  to  brutal  lust ;  till,  at  the  appointed 
moment,  the  lights  were  suddenly  extinguished,  shame 
was  banished,  nature  was  forgotten  ;  and,  as  accident 
might  direct,  the  darkness  of  the  night  was  polluted 
by  the  incestuous  commerce  of  sisters  and  brothers,- 
of  sons  and  of  mothers." 

But  the  perusal  of  the  ancient  apologies  was  sufficient 
to  remove  even  the  slightest  suspicion  from  the  mind 
of  a  candid  adversary.  The  Christians,  with  the  in- 
trepid security  of  innocence,  appeal  from  the  voice  of 
rumour  to  the  equity  of  the  magistrates.  Tliey  acknow- 
ledge that,  if  any  proof  can  be  produced  of  the  crimes 
which  calumny  has  imputed  to  them,  they  are  worthy 
of  the  most  severe  punishment.  They  provoke  the 
punishment,  and  they  challenge  the  proof.  At  the 
same  time  they  urge,  with  equal  truth  and  propriety, 
that  the  charge  is  not  less  devoid  of  probability  than 
it  is  destitute  of  evidence ;  they  ask  whether  any  one 


92  THE  DECLINE   AND   FALL 

can  seriously  believe  that  the  pure  and  holy  precepts 
of  the  Gospel,  which  so  frequently  restrains  the  use 
of  the  most  lawful  enjoyments,  should  inculcate  the 
practice  of  the  most  abominable  crimes  ;  that  a  large 
society  should  resolve  to  dishonour  itself  in  the  eyes 
of  its  own  members ;  and  that  a  great  number  of 
persons  of  either  sex,  and  every  age  and  character, 
insensible  to  the  fear  of  death  or  infamy,  should  con- 
sent to  violate  those  principles  which  nature  and  edu- 
cation had  imprinted  most  deeply  in  their  minds.  ^^ 
Nothing,  it  should  seem,  could  weaken  the  force  or 
destroy  the  effect  of  so  unanswerable  a  justification, 
unless  it  were  the  injudicious  conduct  of  the  apologists 
themselves,  who  betrayed  the  common  cause  of  religion, 
to  gratify  their  devout  hatred  to  the  domestic  enemies 
of  the  church.  It  was  sometimes  faintly  insinuated, 
and  sometimes  boldly  asserted,  that  the  same  bloody 
sacrifices,  and  the  same  incestuous  festivals,  which 
were  so  falsely  ascribed  to  the  orthodox  believers,  were 
in  reality  celebrated  by  the  Marcionites,  by  the  Car- 
pocratians,  and  by  several  other  sects  of  the  Gnostics, 
who,  notwithstanding  they  might  deviate  into  the  paths 
of  heresy,  were  still  actuated  by  the  sentiments  of  men, 
and  still  governed  by  the  precepts  of  Christianity. 
Accusations  of  a  similar  kind  were  retorted  upon  the 
church  by  the  schismatics  who  had  departed  from  its 
communion  :  ^^  and  it  was  confessed  on  all  sides  that 
the  most  scandalous  licentiousness  of  manners  pre- 
vailed among  great  numbers  of  those  who  affected  the 
name  of  Christians.     A  Pagan  magistrate,   who  pos- 

1'  In  the  persecution  of  Lyons,  some  Gentile  slaves  were  com- 
pelled, by  the  fear  of  tortures,  to  accuse  their  Christian  master. 
The  church  of  Lyons,  writing  to  their  brethren  of  Asia,  treat 
the  horrid  charge  with  proper  indignation  and  contempt. 

!•*  When  Tertullian  became  a  Montanist,  he  aspersed  the 
morals  of  the  church  which  he  had  so  resolutely  defended. 
"Sed  majoris  est  Agape,  quia  per  banc  adolescentes  tui  cum 
sororibus  dormiunt,  appendices  scilicet  gulae  lascivia  et  luxuria." 
The  35th  canon  of  the  council  of  lUiberis  provides  against  the 
scandals  which  too  often  polluted  the  vigils  of  the  church,  and 
disgraced  the  Christian  name  in  the  eyes  of  unbelievers. 


OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE  93 

sessed  neither  leisure  nor  abilities  to  discern  the  almost 
imperceptible  line  which  divides  the  orthodox  faith 
from  heretical  pravity^  might  easily  have  imagined 
that  their  mutual  animosity  had  extorted  the  discovery 
of  their  common  guilt.  It  was  fortunate  for  the  repose, 
or  at  least  for  the  reputation,  of  the  first  Christians, 
that  the  magistrates  sometimes  proceeded  with  more 
temper  and  moderation  than  is  usually  consistent  with 
religious  zeal,  and  that  they  reported,  as  the  impartial 
result  of  their  judicial  inquiry,  that  the  sectaries  who 
had  deserted  the  established  worship  appeared  to  them 
sincere  in  their  professions  and  blameless  in  their 
manners ;  however  they  might  incur,  by  their  absurd 
and  excessive  superstition,  the  cens'ure  of  the  laws.^^ 

History,  which  undertakes  to  record  the  transactions 
of  the  past,  for  the  instruction  of  future,  ages,  would 
ill  deserve  that  honourable  office,  if  she  condescended 
to  plead  the  cause  of  tyrants,  or  to  justify  the  maxims 
of  persecution.  It  must,  however,  be  acknowledged 
that  the  conduct  of  the  emperors  who  appeared  the 
least  favourable  to  the  primitive  church  is  by  no  means 
so  criminal  as  that  of  modern  sovereigns  who  have 
employed  the  arm  of  violence  and  terror  against  the 
religious  opinions  of  any  part  of  their  subjects.  From 
their  reflections,  or  even  from  their  own  feelings,  a 
Charles  V.  or  a  Louis  XIV.  might  have  acquired  a  just 
knowledge  of  the  rights  of  conscience,  of  the  obligation 
of  faith,  and  of  the  innocence  of  error.  But  the 
princes  and  magistrates  of  ancient  Rome  were  strangers 
to  those  principles  which  inspired  and  authorised  the 
inflexible  obstinacy  of  the  Christians  in  the  cause  of 
truth,  nor  could  they  themselves  discover  in  their 
own  breasts  any  motive  which  would  have  prompted 
them  to  refuse  a  legal,  and  as  it  were  a  natural,  sub- 
mission to  the  sacred  institutions  of  their  country. 
The  same  reason  which  contributes  to  alleviate  the 
guilt,  must  have  tended  to  abate  the  rigour,  of  their 

15  Tertullian  (Apolog.  c.  2)  expatiates  on  the  fair  and  honour- 
able testimony  of  Pliny,  with  much  reason,  and  some  declama- 
tion. 


94  THE   DECLINE   AND    FALL 

persecutions.  As  tliey  were  actuated,  not  by  the 
furious  zeal  of  bigots,  but  by  the  temperate  policy  of 
legislators,  contempt  must  often  have  relaxed,  and 
humanity  must  frequently  have  suspended,  the  execu- 
tion of  those  laws  which  they  enacted  against  the 
humble  and  obscure  followers  of  Christ.  From  the 
general  view  of  their  character  and  motives  we  might 
naturally  conclude  :  I.  That  a  considerable  time  elapsed 
before  they  considered  the  new  sectaries  as  an  object 
deserving  of  the  attention  of  government.  II.  That, 
in  the  conviction  of  any  of  their  subjects  who  were 
accused  of  so  very  singular  a  crime,  they  proceeded 
with  caution  and  reluctance.  III.  That  they  were 
moderate  in  the  use  of  punishments  ;  and  IV^.  That  the 
afflicted  church  enjoyed  many  intervals  of  peace  and 
tranquillity.  Notwithstanding  the  careless  indiffer- 
ence which  the  most  copious  and  the  most  minute  of 
the  Pagan  writers  have  shown  to  the  affairs  of  the 
Christians, ^^  it  may  still  be  in  our  power  to  confirm 
each  of  these  probable  suppositions  by  the  evidence  of 
authentic  facts. 

I.  By  the  wise  dispensation  of  Providence,  a  mys- 
terious veil  was  cast  over  the  infancy  of  the  church, 
which,  till  the  faith  of  the  Christians  was  matured  and 
their  numbers  were  multiplied,  served  to  protect  them 
not  only  from  the  malice,  but  even  from  the  know- 
ledge, of  the  Pagan  world.  The  slow  and  gradual 
abolition  of  the  Mosaic  ceremonies  afforded  a  safe  and 
innocent  disguise  to  the  more  early  proselytes  of  the 
Gospel.  As  they  were  far  the  greater  part  of  the  race 
of  Abraham,  they  were  distinguished  by  the  peculiar 
mark  of  circumcision,  offered  up  their  devotions  in  the 
Temple  of  Jerusalem  till  its  final  destruction,  and 
received  both  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  as  the  genuine 
inspirations  of  the  Deity.     The  Gentile  converts,  who 

16  In  the  various  compilation  of  the  Augustan  History  (a  part 
of  which  was  composed  under  the  reign  of  Constantine),  there 
are  not  six  lines  which  relate  to  the  Christians ;  nor  has  the 
diligence  of  Xiphilin  discovered  their  name  in  the  large  history 
of  Dion  Cassius. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  95 

by  a  spiritual  adoption  had  been  associated  to  the  hope 
of  Israel,  were  likewise  confounded  under  the  garb  and 
appearance  of  Jews/''  and,  as  the  Polytheists  paid  less 
reirard  to  articles  of  faith  than  to  the  external  worship, 
the  new  sect,  which  carefully  concealed,  or  faintly 
announced,  its  future  greatness  and  ambition,  was 
permitted  to  shelter  itself  under  the  general  toleration 
which  was  granted  to  an  ancient  and  celebrated  people 
in  the  Roman  empire.  It  was  not  long,  perhaps, 
before  the  Jews  themselves,  animated  with  a  fiercer 
zeal  and  a  more  jealous  faith,  perceived  the  gradual 
separation  of  their  Nazarene  brethren  from  the  doctrine 
of  the  synagogue;  and  they  would  gladly  have  ex- 
tinguished the  dangerous  heresy  in  the  blood  of  its 
adherents.  But  the  deciees  of  heaven  had  already 
disarmed  their  malice  ;  and,  though  they  might  some- 
times exert  the  licentious  privilege  of  sedition,  they 
no  longer  possessed  the  administration  of  criminal 
justice;  nor  did  they  find  it  easy  to  infuse  into  the 
calm  breast  of  a  Roman  magistrate  the  rancour  of  their 
own  zeal  and  prejudice.  The  provincial  governors 
declared  themselves  ready  to  listen  to  any  accusation 
that  might  afi'ect  the  public  safety  ;  but,  as  soon  as 
they  were  informed  that  it  was  a  question  not  of  facts 
but  of  words,  a  dispute  relating  only  to  the  interpreta- 
tion of  tl>e  Jewish  laws  and  prophecies,  they  deemed  it 
unworthy  of  the  majesty  of  Rome  seriously  to  discuss 
the  obscure  differences  which  might  arise  among  a 
barbarous  and  superstitious  people.  The  innocence  of 
the  first  Christians  was  protected  by  ignorance  and 
contempt ;  and  the  tribunal  of  the  Pagan  magistrate 
often  proved  their  most  assured  refuge  against  the 
fury  of  the  synagogue.^®  If,  indeed,  we  were  disposed 
to  adopt  the  traditions  of  a  too  credulous  antiquity, 

^  17  An  obscure  passage  of  Suetonius  (in  Claud,  c.  25)  may 
seem  to  offer  a  proof  how  strangely  the  Jews  and  Christians  of 
Rome  were  confounded  with  each  other. 

^8  See  in  the  xviiith  and  xxvth  chapters  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  the  behaviour  of  Gallio,  proconsul  of  Achaia,  and  of 
Festus,  procurator  of  Judaea. 


96  THE  DECLINE   AND    FALL  a.d. 

we  might  relate  the  distant  peregrinations,  the  wonder- 
ful achievements,  and  the  various  deaths,  of  the 
twelve  apostles  ;  but  a  more  accurate  inquiry  will 
induce  us  to  doubt  whether  any  of  those  persons  who 
had  been  witnesses  to  the  miracles  of  Christ  were  per- 
mitted, beyond  the  limits  of  Palestine,  to  seal  with 
their  blood  the  truth  of  their  testimony. ^^  From  the 
ordinary  term  of  human  life,  it  may  very  naturally  be 
presumed  that  most  of  them  were  deceased  before  the 
discontent  of  the  Jews  broke  out  into  that  furious  war 
which  was  terminated  only  by  the  ruin  of  Jerusalem. 
During  a  long  period,  from  the  death  of  Christ  to  that 
memorable  rebellion,  we  cannot  discover  any  traces  of 
Roman  intolerance,  unless  they  are  to  be  found  in  the 
sudden,  the  transient,  but  the  cruel  persecution, 
which  was  exercised  by  Nero  against  the  Christians  of 
the  capital,  thirty-five  years  after  the  former,  and  only 
two  years  before  the  latter  of  those  great  events.  The 
character  of  the  philosophic  historian,  to  whom  we  are 
principally  indebted  for  the  knowledge  of  this  singular 
transaction,  would  alone  be  sufficient  to  recommend  it 
to  our  most  attentive  consideration. 

In  the  tenth  year  of  the  reign  of  Nero,  the  capital 
of  the  empire  was  afflicted  by  a  fire  which  raged  beyond 
the  memory  or  example  of  former  ages.  The  monu- 
ments of  Grecian  art  and  of  Roman  virtue,  the  trophies 
of  the  Punic  and  Gallic  wars,  the  most  holy  temples,  and 
the  most  splendid  palaces  were  involved  in  one  common 
destruction.  Of  the  fourteen  regions  or  quarters  into 
which  Rome  was  divided,  four  only  subsisted  entire, 
three  were  levelled  with  the  ground,  and  the  remaining 
seven,  which  had  experienced  the  fury  of  the  flames, 
displayed  a  melancholy  prospect  of  ruin  and  desolation. 
The   vigilance   of   government   appears   not   to   have 

1*  In  the  time  of  TertuUian  and  Clemens  of  Alexandria,  the 
glory  of  martyrdom  was  confined  to  St.  Peter,  St.  Paul,  and  St. 
James.  It  was  gradually  bestowed  on  the  rest  of  the  apostles, 
by  the  more  recent  Greeks,  who  prudently  selected  for  the 
theatre  of  their  preaching  and  sufferings,  some  remote  country 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  Roman  empire. 


65  OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  97 

neglected  any  of  the  precautions  which  might  alleviate 
the  sense  of  so  dreadful  a  calamity.  The  Imperial 
gardens  were  thrown  open  to  the  distressed  multitude, 
temporary  buildings  were  erected  for  their  accommo- 
dation, and  a  plentiful  supply  of  corn  and  provisions 
was  distributed  at  a  very  moderate  price.^  The  most 
generous  policy  seemed  to  have  dictated  the  edicts 
which  regulated  the  disposition  of  the  streets  and  the 
construction  of  private  houses  ;  and,  as  it  usually 
happens  in  an  age  of  prosperity,  the  conflagration  of 
Rome,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  produced  a  new 
city,  more  regular  and  more  beautiful  than  the  former. 
But  all  the  prudence  and  humanity  affected  by  Nero 
on  this  occasion  were  insufficient  to  preserve  him  from 
the  popular  suspicion.  Every  crime  might  be  imputed 
to  the  assassin  of  his  wife  and  mother ;  nor  could  the 
prince  who  prostituted  his  person  and  dignity  on  the 
theatre  be  deemed  incapable  of  the  most  extravagant 
folly.  The  voice  of  rumour  accused  the  emperor  as 
the  incendiary  of  his  own  capital ;  and,  as  the  most 
incredible  stories  are  the  best  adapted  to  the  genius  of 
an  enraged  people,  it  was  gravely  reported,  and  firmly 
believed,  that  Nero,  enjoying  the  calamity  which  he 
had  occasioned,  amused  himself  with  singing  to  his 
lyre  the  destruction  of  ancient  Troy.^^  To  divert  a 
suspicion  which  the  power  of  despotism  was  unable  to 
suppress  the  emperor  resolved  to  substitute  in  his  own 
place  some  fictitious  criminals.  '^  With  this  view 
(continues  Tacitus)  he  inflicted  the  most  exquisite 
tortures  on  those  men,  who,  under  the  vulgar  appel- 
lation of  Christians,  were  already  branded  with  de- 
served infamy.  They  derived  their  name  and  origin 
from  Christ,  who,  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  had  suffered 
death,    by   the    sentence    of   the  procurator    Pontius 

20  The  price  of  wheat  (probably  of  the  modius)  was  reduced 
as  low  as  terni  nummi ;  which  would  be  equivalent  to  about 
fifteen  shillings  the  English  quarter, 

21  We  may  observe,  that  the  rumour  is  mentioned  by  Tacitus 
with  a  very  becoming  distrust  and  hesitation,  whilst  it  is  greedily 
transcribed  by  Suetonius,  and  solemnly  confirmed  by  Dion. 

VOL.  II.  r> 


98  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

Pilate.^  For  a  while  this  dire  superstition  was 
checked  ;  but  it  again  burst  forth,  and  not  only  spread 
itself  over  Judaea,  the  first  seat  of  this  mischievous 
sect,  but  was  even  introduced  into  Rome,  the  common 
asylum  which  receives  and  protects  whatever  is  impure, 
whatever  is  atrocious.  The  confessions  of  those  who 
were  seized,  discovered  a  great  multitude  of  their  ac- 
complices, and  they  were  all  convicted,  not  so  much 
for  the  crime  of  setting  fire  to  the  city,  as  for  their 
hatred  of  human  kind.^^  They  died  in  torments,  and 
their  torments  were  embittered  by  insult  and  deri- 
sion. Some  were  nailed  on  crosses  ;  others  sewn  up  in 
the  skins  of  wild  beasts,  and  exposed  to  the  fury  of 
dogs ;  others  again,  smeared  over  with  combustible 
materials,  were  used  as  torches  to  illuminate  the  dark- 
ness of  the  night.  The  gardens  of  Nero  were  destined 
for  the  melancholy  spectacle,  which  was  accompanied 
with  a  horse  race,  and  honoured  with  the  presence  of 
the  emperor,  who  mingled  with  the  populace  in  the 
dress  and  attitude  of  a  charioteer.  The  guilt  of  the 
Christians  deserved,  indeed,  the  most  exemplary 
punishment,   but  the  public  abhorrence  was  changed 

23  This  testimony  is  alone  suflBcient  to  expose  the  anachronism 
of  the  Jews,  who  place  the  birth  of  Christ  near  a  century  sooner. 
We  may  learn  from  Josephus  (Antiquitat.  xviii.  3),  that  the  pro- 
curatorship  of  Pilate  corresponded  with  the  last  ten  years  of 
Tiberius.  A.D.  27-37.  As  to  the  particular  time  of  the  death 
of  Christ,  a  very  early  tradition  fixed  it  to  the  25th  of  March, 
A.D.  29,  under  the  consulship  of  the  two  Gemini.  This  date, 
which  is  adopted  by  Pagi,  cardinal  Noris,  and  Le  Clerc,  seems 
at  least  as  probable  as  the  vulgar  aera,  which  is  placed  (I  know 
not  from  what  conjectures)  four  years  later. 

23  Odio  humani  generis  convicti.  These  words  may  either 
signify  the  hatred  of  mankind  towards  the  Christians,  or  the 
hatred  of  the  Christians  towards  mankind.  I  have  preferred 
the  latter  sense,  as  the  most  agreeable  to  the  style  of  Tacitus, 
and  to  the  popular  error,  of  which  a  precept  of  the  Gospel  (see 
Luke  xiv.  26)  had  been,  perhaps,  the  innocent  occasion.  But 
as  the  word  convicti  does  not  unite  very  happily  with  the  rest 
of  the  sentence,  fames  Gronovius  has  preferred  the  reading 
of  conjuncii,  which  is  authorised  by  the  valuable  MS.  of 
Florence. 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  99 

into  commiseration,  from  the  opinion  that  those  un- 
happy wretches  were  sacrificed,  not  so  much  to  the 
public  welfare,  as  to  the  cruelty  of  a  jealous  tyrant." 
Those  who  survey,  with  a  curious  eye,  the  revolutions 
of  mankind  may  observe  that  the  gardens  and  circus 
of  Nero  on  the  Vatican,  which  were  polluted  with  the 
blood  of  the  first  Christians,  have  been  rendered  still 
more  famous  by  the  triumph  and  by  the  abuse  of  the 
persecuted  relig-ion.  On  the  same  spot,  a  temple, 
which  far  surpasses  the  ancient  glories  of  the  Capitol, 
has  been  since  erected  by  the  Christian  Pontiffs,  who, 
deriving  their  claim  of  universal  dominion  from  an 
humble  fishennan  of  Galilee,  have  succeeded  to  the 
throne  of  the  Caesars,  given  laws  to  the  barbarian 
conquerors  of  Rome,  and  extended  their  spiritual  juris- 
diction from  the  coast  of  the  Baltic  to  the  shores  of 
the  Pacific  Ocean. 

But  it  would  be  improper  to  dismiss  this  account  of 
Nero's  persecution,  till  we  have  made  some  observa- 
tions, that  may  serve  to  remove  the  difi^iculties  with 
which  it  is  perplexed  and  to  throw  some  light  on  the 
subsequent  history  of  the  church. 

1.  The  most  sceptical  criticism  is  obliged  to  respect 
the  truth  of  this  extraordinary  fact,  and  the  integrity 
of  this  celebrated  passage  of  Tacitus.  The  former  is 
confirmed  by  the  diligent  and  accurate  Suetonius,  who 
mentions  the  punishment  which  Nero  inflicted  on  the 
Christians,  a  sect  of  men  who  had  embraced  a  new  and 
criminal  superstition. ^^  The  latter  may  be  proved  by 
the  consent  of  the  most  ancient  manuscripts  ;  by  the 
inimitable  character  of  the  style  of  Tacitus  ;  by  his 
reputation,  which  guarded  his  text  from  the  interpola- 
tions of  pious  fraud  ;  and  by  the  purport  of  his  nar- 
ration, which  accused  the  first  Christians  of  the  most 
atrocious  crimes,  without  insinuating  that  they  pos- 
sessed any  miraculous  or  even  magical  powers  above 

24  The  epithet  of  malefica,  which  some  sagacious  commen- 
tators have  translated  magical,  is  considered  by  the  more 
rational  Mosheim  as  only  synonymous  to  the  exitiabilis  of 
Tacitus. 


100  THE   DECLINE  AND  FALL 

the  rest  of  mankind. ^^  2.  Notwithstanding  it  is 
probable  that  Tacitus  was  born  some  years  before  the 
fire  of  Rome,  he  could  derive  only  from  reading  and 
conversation  the  knowledge  of  an  event  which  happened 
during  his  infancy.  Before  he  gave  himself  to  the 
Public,  he  calmly  waited  till  his  genius  had  attained 
its  full  maturity,  and  he  was  more  than  forty  years  of 
age,  when  a  grateful  regard  for  the  memory  of  the 
virtuous  Agricola  extorted  from  him  the  most  early  of 
those  historical  compositions  which  will  delight  and 
instruct  the  most  distant  posterity.  After  making  a 
trial  of  his  strength  in  the  life  of  Agricola  and  the 
description  of  Germany,  he  conceived,  and  at  length 
executed,  a  more  arduous  work  ;  the  history  of  Rome, 
in  thirty  books,  from  the  fall  of  Nero  to  the  accession 
of  Nerva.  The  administration  of  Nerva  introduced 
an  age  of  justice  and  prosperity  which  Tacitus  had 
destined  for  the  occupation  of  his  old  age  ;  but,  when 
he  took  a  nearer  view  of  his  subject,  judging,  perhaps, 
that  it  was  a  more  honourable  or  a  less  invidious  office 
to  record  the  vices  of  past  tyrants  than  to  celebrate 
the  virtues  of  a  reigning  monarch,  he  chose  rather  to 
relate,  under  the  form  of  annals,  the  actions  of  the 
four  immediate  successors  of  Augustus.  To  collect, 
to  dispose,  and  to  adorn  a  series  of  fourscore  years  in 
an  immortal  work,  every  sentence  of  which  is  pregnant 
with  the  deepest  observations  and  the  most  lively 
images,  was  an  undertaking  sufficient  to  exercise  the 
genius  of  Tacitus  himself  during  the  greatest  part  of 
his  life.  In  the  last  years  of  the  reign  of  Trajan, 
whilst  the  victorious  monarch  extended  the  power  of 
Rome  beyond  its  ancient  limits,  the  historian  was 
describing,   in    the   second    and    fourth    books  of  his 

25  The  passage  concerning  Jesus  Christ,  which  was  inserted 
into  the  text  of  Josephus  between  the  time  of  Origen  and  that 
of  Eusebius,  may  furnish  an  example  of  no  vulgar  forgery.  The 
accomplishment  of  the  prophecies,  the  virtues,  miracles  and 
resurrection  of  Jesus  are  distinctly  related.  Josephus  acknow- 
ledges that  he  was  the  Messiah,  and  hesitates  whether  he  should 
call  him  a  man. 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  101 

annals,  the  tyranny  of  Tiberius ;  and  the  emperor 
Hadrian  must  have  succeeded  to  the  throne,  before 
Tacitus,  in  the  reg-ular  prosecution  of  his  work,  could 
relate  the  fire  of  the  capital  and  the  cruelty  of  Nero 
towards  the  unfortunate  Christians.  At  the  distance 
of  sixty  years,  it  was  the  duty  of  the  annalist  to  adopt 
the  narratives  of  contemporaries  ;  but  it  was  natural  for 
the  philosopher  to  indulg-e  himself  in  the  description 
of  the  origin,  the  progress,  and  the  character  of  the 
new  sect,  not  so  much  according  to  the  knowledge  or 
prejudices  of  the  age  of  Nero,  as  according  to  tho>e 
of  the  time  of  Hadrian.  3.  Tacitus  very  frequently 
trusts  to  the  curiosity  or  reflection  of  his  readers  to 
supply  those  intermediate  circumstances  and  ideas 
which,  in  his  extreme  conciseness,  he  has  thought 
proper  to  suppress.  We  may,  therefore,  presume  to 
imagine  some  probable  cause  which  could  direct  the 
cruelty  of  Nero  against  the  Christians  of  Rome,  whose 
obscurity,  as  well  as  innocence,  should  have  shielded 
them  from  his  indignation,  and  even  from  his  notice. 
The  Jews,  who  were  numerous  in  the  capital,  ani 
oppressed  in  their  own  country,  were  a  much  fitter 
object  for  the  suspicions  of  the  emperor  and  of  the 
people  ;  nor  did  it  seem  unlikely  that  a  vanquished 
nation,  who  already  discovered  their  abhorrence  of 
the  Roman  yoke,  might  have  recourse  to  the  most 
atrocious  means  of  gratifying  their  implacable  revenge. 
But  the  Jews  possessed  very  powerful  advocates  in  the 
palace,  and  even  in  the  heart  of  the  tyrant ;  his  wife 
and  mistress,  the  beautiful  Poppaea,  and  a  favourite 
player  of  the  race  of  Abraham,  who  had  already 
employed  their  intercession  in  behalf  of  the  obnoxious 
people.2^  In  their  room  it  was  necessary  to  offer  some 
other  victims,  and  it  might  easily  be  suggested,  that, 
although  the  genuine  followers  of  Moses  were  innocent 

26  The  player's  name  was  Aliturus.  Through  the  same 
channel,  Josephus,  about  two  years  before,  had  obtained  the 
pardon  and  release  of  some  Jewish  priests,  who  were  prisonei  s 
at  Rome. 


102  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL 

of  the  fire  of  Rome^  there  had  arisen  among  them  a 
new  and  pernicious  sect  of  Galik«;ans,  which  was 
capable  of  the  most  horrid  crimes.  Under  the  ap- 
pellation of  Galil^eans^  two  distinctions  of  men  were 
confounded,  the  most  opposite  to  each  other  in  their 
manners  and  principles  ;  the  disciples  who  had  em- 
braced the  faith  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth, ^7  and  the  zealots 
who  had  followed  the  standard  of  Judas  the  Gaulonite.^^ 
The  former  were  the  friends,  and  the  latter  were  the 
enemies,  of  human  kind  ;  and  the  only  resemblance 
between  them  consisted  in  the  same  inflexible  con- 
stancy which,  in  the  defence  of  their  cause,  rendered 
them  insensible  of  death  and  tortures.  The  followers 
of  Judas,  who  impelled  their  countrymen  into  rebellion, 
were  soon  buried  under  the  ruins  of  Jerusalem  ;  whilst 
those  of  Jesus,  known  by  the  more  celebrated  name  of 
Christians,  diffused  themselves  over  the  Roman  empire. 
How  natural  was  it  for  Tacitus,  in  the  time  of  Hadrian^ 
to  appropriate  to  the  Christians  the  gnilt  and  the  suf- 
ferings which  he  might,  with  far  greater  truth  and 
justice,  have  attributed  to  a  sect  whose  odious  memory 
was  almost  extinguished  !  4,  WTiatever  opinion  may 
be  entertained  of  this  conjecture  (for  it  is  no  more 
than  a  conjecture),  it  is  evident  that  the  eff"ect,  as 
well  as  the  cause,  of  Nero's  persecution  were  confined 
to  the  walls  of  Rome  ;  that  the  religious  tenets  of 
the  Galilaeans,  or  Christians,  were  never  made  a  subject 
of  punishment  or  even  of  inquiry ;  and  that,  as  the 
idea  of  their  sufferings  was,  for  a  long  time,  connected 
with  the  idea  of  cruelty  and  injustice,  the  moderation 
of  succeeding  princes  inclined  them  to  spare  a  sect, 

27  The  learned  Dr.  Lardner  (Jewish  and  Heathen  Testi- 
monies, vol.  ii.  pp.  I02,  103)  has  proved  that  the  name  of 
Galilaeans  was  a  very  ancient  and,  perhaps,  the  primitive 
appellation  of  the  Christians. 

28  The  sons  of  Judas  were  crucified  in  the  time  of  Claudius. 
His  grandson  Eleazar,  after  Jerusalem  was  taken,  defended  a 
strong  fortress  with  960  of  his  most  desperate  followers.  When 
the  battering  ram  had  made  a  breach,  they  turned  their  swords 
against  their  wives,  their  children,  and  at  length  against  their 
own  breasts.     They  died  to  the  last  man. 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  103 

oppressed  by  a  tyrant  whose  rag-e  had  been  usually 
directed  against  virtue  and  innocence. 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  the  flames  of  war 
consumed  almost  at  the  same  time  the  temple  of  Jeru- 
salem and  the  Capitol  of  Rome  ;  ^  and  it  appears  no 
less  singular  that  the  tribute  which  devotion  had 
destined  to  the  former  should  have  been  converted 
by  the  power  of  an  assaulting  victor  to  restore  and 
adore  the  splendour  of  the  latter."*^  The  emperors 
levied  a  general  capitation  tax  on  the  Jewish  people  ; 
and,  although  the  sum  assessed  on  the  head  of  each 
individual  was  inconsiderable,  the  use  for  which  it  was 
designed,  and  the  severity  with  which  it  was  exacted, 
were  considered  as  an  intolerable  grievance.  Since 
the  officers  of  the  revenue  extended  their  unjust  claim 
to  many  persons  who  were  strangers  to  the  blood  or 
religion  of  the  Jews,  it  was  impossible  that  the  Chris- 
tians, who  had  so  often  sheltered  themselves  under  the 
shade  of  the  synagogue,  should  now  escape  this  rapa- 
cious persecution.  Anxious  as  they  were  to  avoid  the 
slightest  infection  of  idolatry,  their  conscience  forbade 
them  to  contribute  to  the  honour  of  that  daemon  who 
had  assumed  the  character  of  the  Capitoline  Jupiter. 
As  a  very  numerous,  though  declining,  party  among 
the  Christians  still  adhered  to  the  law  of  Moses,  their 
efforts  to  dissemble  their  Jewish  origin  were  detected 
by  the  decisive  test  of  circumcision,^^  nor  were  the 

29  The  Capitol  was  burnt  during  the  civil  war  between  Vitel- 
lius  and  Vespasian,  the  19th  of  December,  A.D.  69.  On  the 
loth  of  August,  A.D.  70,  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem  was  destroyed 
by  the  hands  of  the  Jews  themselves,  rather  than  by  those  of 
the  Romans. 

30  The  new  Capitol  was  dedicated  by  Domitian.  The  gilding 
alone  cost  12,000  talents  (above  two  millions  and  a  half).  It 
was  the  opinion  of  Martial  (1.  ix.  Epigram  3)  that,  if  the  em- 
peror had  called  in  his  debts,  Jupiter  himself,  even  though  he 
had  made  a  general  auction  of  Olympus,  would  have  been 
unable  to  pay  two  shillings  in  the  pound. 

'1  Suetonius  (in  Domitian.  c.  12)  had  seen  an  old  man  of 
ninety  publicly  examined  before  the  procurator's  tribunal. 
This  is  what  Martial  calls,  Mentula  tributis  damnata. 


104  THE   DECLINE  AND   FALL  a.d. 

Roman  magistrates  at  leisure  to  inquire  into  the  differ- 
ence of  their  religious  tenets.  Among  the  Christians 
who  were  brought  before  the  tribunal  of  the  emperor, 
or,  as  it  seems  more  probable,  before  that  of  the  pro- 
curator of  Judaea,  two  persons  are  said  to  have  appeared, 
distinguished  by  their  extraction,  which  was  more 
truly  noble  than  that  of  the  greatest  monarchs.  These 
were  the  grandsons  of  St.  Jude  the  apostle,  who 
himself  was  the  brother  of  Jesus  Christ.^^  Their 
natural  pretensions  to  the  throne  of  David  might 
perhaps  attract  the  respect  of  the  people,  and  excite 
the  jealousy  of  the  governor ;  but  the  meanness  of 
their  garb  and  the  simplicity  of  their  answers  soon 
convinced  him  that  they  were  neither  desirous  nor 
capable  of  disturbing  the  peace  of  the  Roman  empire. 
They  frankly  confessed  their  royal  origin  and  their 
near  relation  to  the  Messiah  ;  but  they  disclaimed  any 
temporal  views,  and  professed  that  his  kingdom,  which 
they  devoutly  expected,  was  purely  of  a  spiritual 
and  angelic  nature.  \Vlien  they  were  examined  con- 
cerning their  fortune  and  occupation,  they  showed 
their  hands  hardened  with  daily  labour,  and  declared 
that  they  derived  their  whole  subsistence  from  the 
cultivation  of  a  farm  near  the  village  of  Cocaba,  of  the 
extent  of  about  twenty-four  English  acres,  and  of  the 
value  of  nine  thousand  drachms,  or  three  hundred 
pounds  sterling.  The  grandsons  of  St.  Jude  were  dis- 
missed with  compassion  and  contempt. 

But,  although  the  obscurity  of  the  house  of  David 
might  protect  them  from  the  suspicions  of  a  tyrant, 
the  present  greatness  of  his  own  family  alarmed  the 

32  This  appellation  was  at  first  understood  in  the  most  obvious 
sense,  and  it  was  supposed  that  the  brothers  of  Jesus  were  the 
lawful  issue  of  Joseph  and  of  Mary.  A  devout  respect  for  the 
virginity  of  the  Mother  of  God  suggested  to  the  Gnostics,  and 
afterwards  to  the  orthodox  Greeks,  the  expedient  of  bestowing 
a  second  wife  on  Joseph.  The  Latins  (from  the  time  of  Jerome) 
improved  on  that  hint,  asserted  the  perpetual  celibacy  of  Joseph, 
and  justified,  by  many  similar  examples,  the  new  interpretation 
that  Jude,  as  well  as  Simon  and  James,  who  are  styled  the 
brothers  of  Jesus  Christ,  were  only  his  first  cousins. 


95  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  105 

pusillanimous  temper  of  Domitian,  which  could  only 
be  appeased  by  the  blood  of  those  Romans  whom  he 
either  feared,  or  hated,  or  esteemed.  Of  the  two  sons 
of  his  uncle  Flavius  Sabinus,  the  elder  was  soon  con- 
victed of  treasonable  intentions,  and  the  younger,  who 
bore  the  name  of  Flavius  Clemens,  was  indebted  for 
his  safety  to  his  want  of  courage  and  ability.  The 
emperor,  for  a  long  time,  distinguished  so  harmless 
a  kinsman  by  his  favour  and  protection,  bestowed  on 
him  his  own  niece  Domitilla,  adopted  the  children  of 
that  marriage  to  the  hope  of  the  succession,  and  in- 
vested their  father  with  the  honours  of  the  consulship. 
But  he  had  scarcely  finished  the  term  of  his  annual 
magistracy,  when,  on  a  slight  pretence,  he  was  con- 
demned and  executed  ;  Domitilla  was  banished  to  a 
desolate  island  on  the  coast  of  Campania ;  ^^  and 
sentences  either  of  death  or  of  confiscation  were  pro- 
nounced against  a  great  number  of  persons  who  were 
involved  in  the  same  accusation.  The  guilt  imputed  to 
their  charge  was  that  of  Atheism  and  Jcvn^sh  manners  ;^^ 
a  singular  association  of  ideas,  which  cannot  with  any 
propriety  be  applied  except  to  the  Christians,  as  they 
were  obscurely  and  imperfectly  viewed  by  the  magis- 
trates and  by  the  writers  of  that  period.  On  the 
strength  of  so  probable  an  interpretation,  and  too 
eagerly  admitting  the  suspicions  of  a  tyrant  as  an 
evidence  of  their  honourable  crime,  the  church  has 
placed  both  Clemens  and  Domitilla  among  its  first 
martyrs,  and  has  branded  the  cruelty  of  Domitian 
with  the  name  of  the  second  persecution.  But  this 
persecution  (if  it  deserves  that  epithet)  was  of  no  long 

33  The  isle  of  Pandataria,  according  to  Dion.  Bruttius  Prae- 
sens  (apud  Euseb.  iii.  i8)  banishes  her  to  that  of  Pontia,  which 
was  not  far  distant  from  the  other.  That  difference,  and  a 
mistake,  either  of  Eusebius  or  of  his  transcribers,  have  given 
occasion  to  suppose  two  Domitillas,  the  wife  and  the  niece  of 
Clemens. 

34  If  the  Bruttius  Prsesens,  from  whom  it  is  probable  that  he 
collected  this  account,  was  the  correspondent  of  Pliny  (Epistol. 
vii.  3),  we  may  consider  him  as  a  contemporary  writer. 

VOL.  II.  D  2 


106  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

duration.  A  few  months  after  the  death  of  Clemens 
and  the  banishment  of  Domitilla,  Stephen,  a  freedman 
belonging  to  the  latter,  who  had  enjoyed  the  favour, 
but  who  had  not  surely  embraced  the  faith,  of  his 
mistress,  assassinated  the  emperor  in  his  palace.  The 
memory  of  Domitian  vvas  condemned  by  the  senate  ; 
his  acts  were  rescinded  ;  his  exiles  recalled  ;  and  under 
the  gentle  administration  of  Nerva,  while  the  innocent 
were  restored  to  their  rank  and  fortunes,  even  the 
most  guilty  either  obtained  pardon  or  escaped  punish- 
ment. 

II.  About  ten  years  afterwards,  under  the  reign  of 
Trajan,  the  younger  Pliny  was  intrusted  by  his  friend 
and  master  with  the  government  of  Bithynia  and 
Pontus.  He  soon  found  himself  at  a  loss  to  determine 
by  what  rule  of  justice  or  of  law  he  should  direct  his 
conduct  in  the  execution  of  an  office  the  most  repug- 
nant to  his  humanity.  Pliny  had  never  assisted  at 
any  judicial  proceedings  against  the  Christians,  with 
whose  name  alone  he  seems  to  be  acquainted  ;  and  he 
was  totally  uninformed  with  regard  to  the  nature  of 
their  guilt,  the  method  of  their  conviction,  and  the 
degree  of  their  punishment.  In  this  perplexity  he 
had  recourse  to  his  usual  expedient,  of  submitting  to 
the  wisdom  of  Trajan  an  impartial  and,  in  some  re- 
spects, a  favourable  account  of  the  new  superstition, 
requesting  the  emperor  that  he  would  condescend  to 
resolve  his  doubts  and  to  instruct  his  ignorance.  ITie 
life  of  Pliny  had  been  employed  in  the  acquisition  of 
learning,  and  in  the  business  of  the  world.  Since  the 
age  of  nineteen  he  had  pleaded  with  distinction  in  the 
tribunals  of  Rome,^  filled  a  place  in  the  senate,  had 
been  invested  with  the  honours  of  the  consulship,  and 
had  formed  very  numerous  connections  with  every  order 
of  men,  both  in  Italy  and  in  the  provinces.  From  his 
ignorance,  therefore,  we  may  derive  some  useful  in- 
formation.     We  may  assure  ourselves  that  when  he 

55  Plin.  Epist.  V.  8.  He  pleaded  his  first  cause  A.D.  8i  ;  the 
year  after  the  famous  eruptions  of  Mount  Vesuvius,  in  which 
his  uncle  lost  his  life. 


96-112  OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  107 

accepted  the  government  of  Bithynia  there  were  no 
general  laws  or  decrees  of  the  senate  in  force  against 
the  Christians  ;  that  neither  Trajan  nor  any  of  his 
virtuous  predecessors,  whose  edicts  were  received  into 
the  civil  and  criminal  jurisprudence,  had  publicly  de- 
clared their  intentions  concerning  the  new  sect ;  and 
that,  whatever  proceedings  had  been  carried  on  against 
the  Christians,  there  were  none  of  sufficient  weight 
and  authority  to  establish  a  precedent  for  the  conduct 
of  a  Roman  magistrate. 

The  answer  of  Trajan,  to  which  the  Christians  of 
the  succeeding  age  have  frequently  appealed,  discovers 
as  much  regard  for  justice  and  humanity  as  could  be 
reconciled  with  his  mistaken  notions  of  religious  policy. 
Instead  of  displaying  the  implacable  zeal  of  an  in- 
quisitor, anxious  to  discover  the  most  minute  particles 
of  heresy  and  exulting  in  the  number  of  his  victims, 
the  emperor  expresses  much  more  solicitude  to  protect 
the  security  of  the  innocent  than  to  prevent  the  escape 
of  the  guilty.  He  acknowledges  the  difficulty  of  fixing 
any  general  plan  ;  but  he  lays  down  two  salutary  rules, 
which  often  afi'orded  relief  and  support  to  the  dis- 
tressed Christians.  Though  he  directs  the  magistrates 
to  punish  such  persons  as  are  legally  convicted,  he 
prohibits  them,  with  a  very  humane  inconsistency, 
from  making  any  inquiries  concerning  the  supposed 
criminals.  Nor  was  the  magistrate  allowed  to  proceed 
on  every  kind  of  information.  Anonymous  charges 
the  emperor  rejects,  as  too  repugnant  to  the  equity  of 
his  government ;  and  he  strictly  requires,  for  the  con- 
viction of  those  to  whom  the  guilt  of  Christianity  is 
imputed,  the  positive  evidence  of  a  fair  and  open 
accuser.  It  is  likewise  probable  that  the  persons  who 
assumed  so  invidious  an  office  were  obliged  to  declare 
the  grounds  of  their  suspicions,  to  specify  (both  in 
respect  to  time  and  place)  the  secret  assemblies  which 
their  Christian  adversary  had  frequented,  and  to  dis- 
close a  great  number  of  circumstances  which  were 
concealed  with  the  most  vigilant  jealousy  from  the 
eye  of  the  profane.     If  they  succeeded  in  their  prose- 


108  THE   DECLINTE   AND   FALL 

cution^  they  were  exposed  to  the  resentment  of  a 
considerable  and  active  party,  to  the  censure  of  the 
more  liberal  portion  of  mankind,  and  to  the  ignominy 
which,  in  every  age  and  country,  has  attended  the 
character  of  an  informer.  If,  on  the  contrary,  they 
failed  in  their  jiroofs,  they  incurred  the  severe,  and 
perhaps  capital,  penalty  which,  according  to  a  law 
published  by  the  emperor  Hadrian,  was  inflicted  on 
those  who  falsely  attributed  to  their  fellow-citizens 
the  crime  of  Christianity.  The  violence  of  personal 
or  superstitious  animosity  might  sometimes  prevail 
over  the  most  natural  apprehensions  of  disgrace  and 
danger  ;  but  it  cannot  surely  be  imagined  that  accusa- 
tions of  so  unpromising  an  appearance  were  either 
lightly  or  frequently  undertaken  by  the  Pagan  subjects 
of  the  Roman  empire.^^ 

ITie  expedient  which  was  employed  to  elude  the 
prudence  of  the  laws  affords  a  sufficient  proof  how 
effectually  they  disappointed  the  mischievous  designs 
of  private  malice  or  superstitious  zeal.  In  a  large  and 
tumultuous  assembly,  the  restraints  of  fear  and  shame, 
so  forcible  on  the  minds  of  individuals,  are  deprived 
of  the  greatest  part  of  their  influence.  The  pious 
Christian,  as  he  was  desirous  to  obtain  or  to  escape 
the  glory  of  martyrdom,  expected,  either  with  im- 
patience or  with  terror,  the  stated  returns  of  the  public 
games  and  festivals.  On  those  occasions,  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  great  cities  of  the  empire  were  collected 
in  the  circus  of  the  theatre,  where  every  circumstance 
of  the  place,  as  well  as  of  the  ceremony,  contributed 
to  kindle  their  devotion  and  to  extinguish  their 
humanity.  Whilst  the  numerous  spectators,  crowned 
with  garlands,  perfumed  witli  incense,  purified  with 
the  blood  of  victims,  and  surrounded  with  the  altars 

36  Eusebius  (Hist.  Ecclesiast.  1.  iv.  c.  9)  has  preserved  the 
edict  of  Hadrian.  He  has  likewise  (c.  13)  given  us  one  still 
more  favourable  under  the  name  of  Antoninus  ;  the  authenticity 
of  which  is  not  so  universally  allowed.  The  second  Apology  of 
Justin  contains  some  curious  particulars  relative  to  the  accusa- 
tions of  Christians. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  109 

d  statues  of  tlieir  tutelar  deities,  resigned  themselves 

to  the  enjoyment  of  pleasures  which  they  considered 

MS  an  essential  part  of  their  religious  worship  ;  they 

recollected    that   the    Christians    alone    abhorred   the 

:ods  of  mankind,  and  by  their  absence  and  melancholy 

oil  these  solemn  festivals  seemed  to  insult  or  to  lament 

the  public  felicity.     If  the  empire  had  been  afflicted 

"jy  any  recent  caiamity_,  by  a  plague^  a  famine,  or  an 

iiisuccessfulwar  ;  if  the  Tiber  had,  or  if  the  Nile  had 

liot,  risen  beyond  its  banks  ;  if  the  earth  had  shaken, 

or  if  the   temperate  order  of  the  seasons   had   been 

interrupted,  the  superstitious  Pagans  were  convinced 

that  the  crimes  and  the  impiety  of  the  Christians,  who 

'  ^re  spared  by  the  excessive  lenity  of  the  government, 

1  at  length  provoked  the  Divine  Justice.     It  was 

:  among  a  licentious  and  exasperated  populace  that 

tiie  forms  of  legal  proceedings  could  be  observed ;  it 

v.as  not  in  an  amphitheatre,  stained  with  the  blood  of 

-■.  ild  beasts  and  gladiators,  that  the  voice  of  compassion 

could  be  heard.     The  impatient  clamours  of  the  multi- 

Vdde  denounced  the  Christians  as  the  enemies  of  gods 

tnd  men,  doomed  them  to  the  severest  tortures,  and, 

ituring  to  accuse  by  name  some  of  the  most  dis- 

gruished  of  the  new  sectaries,  required,  with   irre- 

-  ^tible    vehemence,    that    they   should    be    instantly 

aDprehended  and  cast  to  the  lions. ^^     The  provincial 

sovernors  and  magistrates  who  presided  in  the  public 

5l)8ctacles  were  usually  inclined  to  gratify  the  inclina- 

;  tions,  and  to  appease  the  rage,  of  the  people  by  the 

I  sacrifice  of  a  few  obnoxious  victims.     But  the  wisdom 

i  of  the  emperors  protected  the  church  from  the  danger 

of  these  tumultuous   clamours  and  irregular  accusa- 

,  tiuus,  which  they  justly  censured  as  repugnant  both 

I  to  the  firmness  and  to  the  equity  of  their  administra- 

I  tiou.     The  edicts  of  Hadrian  and  of  Antoninus  Pius 

exjjressly   declared    that   the  voice   of  the   multitude 

should  never  be  admitted  as  legal  evidence  to  convict 

I  37  The  acts  of  the  martyrdom  of  Polycarp  exhibit  a  lively 
picture  of  these  tumults,  which  were  usually  fomented  by  the 
ffialice  of  the  Tews. 


110  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL 

or  to  punish  those  unfortunate  persons  who  had  em- 
braced the  enthusiasm  of  the  Christians. ^^ 

III.  Punishment  was  not  the  inevitable  consequence 
of  conviction,  and  the  Christians,  whose  guilt  was  the 
most  clearly  proved  by  the  testimony  of  witnesses,  or 
even  by  their  voluntary  confession,  still  retained  in 
their  own  power  the  alternative  of  life  or  death.  It 
was  not  so  much  the  past  offence,  as  the  actual  resist- 
ance, which  excited  the  indignation  of  the  magistrate. 
He  was  persuaded  that  he  offered  them  an  easy  pardon, 
since,  if  they  consented  to  cast  a  few  grains  of  incense 
upon  the  altar,  they  were  dismissed  from  the  tribunal 
in  safety  and  with  applause.  It  was  esteemed  the  duty 
of  a  humane  judge  to  endeavour  to  reclaim,  rather 
than  to  punish,  those  deluded  enthusiasts.  Varying 
his  tone  according  to  the  age,  the  sex,  or  the  situation 
of  the  prisoners,  he  frequently  condescended  to  set 
before  their  eyes  every  circumstance  which  could 
render  life  more  pleasing,  or  death  more  terrible  ;  and 
to  solicit,  nay,  to  entreat  them,  that  they  would  show 
some  compassion  to  themselves,  to  their  families,  and 
to  their  friends.  If  threats  and  persuasions  proved 
ineffectual,  he  had  often  recourse  to  violence ;  the 
scourge  and  the  rack  were  called  in  to  supply  the 
deficiency  of  argument,  and  every  act  of  cruelty  was 
employed  to  subdue  such  inflexible  and,  as  it  appeared 
to  the  Pagans,  such  criminal  obstinacy.  The  ancient 
apologists  of  Christianity  have  censured,  with  equal 
truth  and  severity,  the  irregular  conduct  of  their  per- 
secutors, who,  contrary  to  every  principle  of  judicial 
proceeding,  admitted  the  use  of  torture,  in  order  to 
obtain  not  a  confession  but  a  denial  of  the  crime  which 
was  the  object  of  their  inquiry.  The  monks  of  suc- 
ceeding ages,  who,  in  their  peaceful  solitudes,  enter- 
tained themselves  with  diversifying  the  death  and 
sufferings  of  the  primitive  martyrs,  have  frequently 
invented  torments  of  a  much  more  refined  and  in- 
genious nature.      In  particular,  it  has  pleased  them  to 

88  These  regulations  are  inserted  in  the  above-mentioned 
edicts  of  Hadrian  and  Pius. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  111 

suppose  that  the  zeal  of  the  Roman  magistrates^  dis- 
daining every  consideration  of  moral  virtue  or  public 
decency,,  endeavoured  to  seduce  those  whom  they  were 
unable  to  vanquish,  and  that,  by  their  orders,  the  most 
brutal  violence  was  offered  to  those  whom  they  found 
it  impossible  to  seduce.  It  is  related  that  pious  females, 
who  were  prepared  to  despise  death,  were  sometimes 
condemned  to  a  more  severe  trial,  and  called  upon  to 
determine  whether  they  set  a  higher  value  on  their 
religion  or  on  their  chastity.  The  youths  to  whose 
licentious  embraces  they  were  abandoned  received  a 
solemn  exhortation  from  the  judge  to  exert  their  most 
strenuous  efforts  to  maintain  the  honour  of  Venus 
against  the  impious  virgin  who  refused  to  burn  incense 
on  her  altars.  Their  violence,  however,  was  com- 
monly disappointed  ;  and  the  seasonable  interposition 
of  some  miraculous  power  preserved  the  chaste  spouses 
of  Christ  from  the  dishonour  even  of  an  involuntary 
defeat.  We  should  not,  indeed,  neglect  to  remark 
that  the  more  ancient,  as  well  as  authentic,  memorials 
of  the  church  are  seldom  polluted  with  those  extra- 
vagant and  indecent  fictions.^ 

llie  total  disregard  of  truth  and  probability  in  the 
representation  of  these  primitive  martyrdoms  was  occa- 
sioned by  a  very  natural  mistake.  The  ecclesiastical 
writers  of  the  fourth  or  fifth  centuries  ascribed  to  the 
magistrates  of  Rome  the  same  degree  of  implacable 
and  unrelenting  zeal  which  filled  their  own  breasts 
against  the  heretics  or  the  idolaters  of  their  own  times. 
It  is  not  improbable  that  some  of  those  persons  who 
were  raised  to  the  dignities  of  the  empire  might  have 
imbibed  the  prejudices  of  the  populace,  and  that  the 
cruel  disposition  of  others  might  occasionally  be  stimu- 
lated by  motives  of  avarice  or  of  personal  resentment.*^ 

39  Jerome,  in  his  Legend  of  Paul  the  Hermit,  tells  a  strange 
story  of  a  young  man,  who  was  chained  naked  on  a  bed  of 
flowers,  and  assaulted  by  a  beautiful  and  wanton  courtezan. 
He  quelled  the  rising  temptation  by  biting  off  his  tongne. 

40  The  conversion  of  his  wife  provoked  Claudius  Herminianus, 
governor  of  Cappadocia,  to  treat  the  Christians  with  uncommon 
severity. 


112  THE   DECLINE  AND   FALL 

But  it  is  certain,  and  we  may  appeal  to  the  grateful 
confessions  of  the  first  Christians,  that  the  greatest 
part  of  those  magistrates  who  exercised  in  the  provinces 
the  authority  of  the  emperor,  or  of  the  senate,  and  to 
whose  hands  alone  the  jurisdiction  of  life  and  death 
was  intrusted,  behaved  like  men  of  polished  manners 
and  liberal  educations,  who  respected  the  rules  of 
justice,  and  who  were  conversant  with  the  precepts 
of  philosophy.  They  frequently  declined  the  odious 
task  of  persecution,  dismissed  the  charge  with  con- 
tempt, or  suggested  to  the  accused  Christian  some 
legal  evasion  by  which  he  might  elude  the  severity  of 
the  laws.^^  Whenever  they  were  invested  with  a  dis- 
cretionary power,  they  used  it  much  less  for  tlie 
oppression  than  for  the  relief  and  benefit  of  the  afflicted 
church.  They  were  far  from  condemning  all  the 
Christians  who  were  accused  before  their  tribunal,  and 
very  far  from  punishing  with  death  all  those  who  were 
convicted  of  an  obstinate  adherence  to  tlie  new  super- 
stition. Contenting  themselves,  for  the  most  part, 
with  the  milder  chastisements  of  imprisonment,  exile, 
or  slavery  in  the  mines,''^  they  left  the  unhappy  victims 
of  their  justice  some  reason  to  hope  that  a  prosperous 
event,  the  accession,  the  marriage,  or  the  triumph  of 
an  emperor  might  speedily  restore  them,  by  a  general 
pardon,  to  their  former  state.  The  martyrs,  devoted 
to  immediate  execution  by  the  Roman  magistrates, 
appear  to  have  been  selected  from  the  most  opposite 
extremes.  They  were  either  bishops  and  presbyters, 
the  persons  the  most  distinguished  among  the  Christians 
by  their  rank  and  influence,  and  whose  example  might 
strike  terror  into  the  whole  sect ;  '^^  or  else  they  were 

«  TertuUian,  in  his  epistle  to  the  governor  of  Africa,  men- 
tions several  remarkable  instances  of  lenity  and  forbearance 
which  had  happened  within  his  knowledge. 

42  The  mines  of  Numidia  contained  nine  bishops,  with  a  pro- 
portionable number  of  their  clergy  and  people,  to  whom  Cyprian 
addressed  a  pious  epistle  of  praise  and  comfort. 

■*3  Though  we  cannot  receive  with  entire  confidence  either  the 
epistles  or  the  acts  of  Ignatius  (they  may  be  found  in  the  and 


OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  113 

the  meanest  aud  most  abject  amoii^  them,  particularly 
those  of  the  servile  coiiditiou,  whose  lives  were  esteemed 
of  little  value,  aud  wliose  surferiugs  were  viewed  by 
the  ancieuts  with  too  careless  an  indifference.^*  The 
learned  Origeu,  who,  from  his  experience  as  well  as 
reading-,  was  intimately  acquainted  with  the  liistory  of 
the  Christians,  declares,  in  the  most  express  terms,  that 
the  number  of  martyrs  was  very  inconsiderable.  His 
authoritv  would  alone  be  sufficient  to  annihilate  that 
formidable  army  of  martyrs  whose  relics,  drawn  for  the 
most  part  from  the  catacombs  of  Rome,  have  replenished 
so  mauv  churches,^^  and  whose  marvellous  achieve- 
ments have  been  the  subject  of  so  many  volumes  of 
holy  romance.^  But  the  general  assertion  of  Origen 
may   be   explained    and  confirmed  by  the   particular 

volume  of  the  ApostoHc  Fathers),  yet  we  may  quote  that  bishop 
of  Antioch  as  one  of  those  exemplary  manyrs.  He  was  sent  in 
chains  to  Rome  as  a  public  spectacle ;  and,  when  he  arrived  at 
Troas,  he  received  the  pleasing  intelligence  that  the  persecution 
of  Antioch  was  already  at  an  end. 

**  Among  the  martyrs  of  Lyons  (Euseb.  1.  v,  c.  i),  the  slave 
Blandina  was  distinguished  by  more  exquisite  tortures.  Of  the 
five  mart}TS  so  much  celebrated  in  the  acts  of  Felicitas  and 
Perpetua,  two  were  of  a  servile,  and  two  others  of  a  very  mean, 
condition. 

^  If  we  recollect  that  all  the  Plebeians  of  Rome  were  not 
Christians,  and  that  all  the  Christians  were  not  saints  and 
martyrs,  we  may  judge  with  how  much  safety  rehgious  honours 
can  be  ascribed  to  bones  or  urns  indiscriminately  taken  from 
the  pubhc  burial-place.  After  ten  centuries  of  a  very  free  and 
open  trade,  some  suspicions  have  arisen  among  the  more 
learned  Catholics.  They  now  require,  as  a  proof  of  sanctity 
and  martyrdom,  the  letters  B.  M.,  a  vial  full  of  red  Uquor,  sup- 
posed to  be  blood,  or  the  figure  of  a  palm  tree.  But  the  two 
former  signs  are  of  httle  weight,  and  with  regard  to  the  last  it 
is  observed  by  the  critics,  i.  That  the  figure,  as  it  is  called,  of  a 
palm  is  perhaps  a  cypress,  and  perhaps  only  a  stop,  the  flourish 
of  a  comma,  used  in  the  monumental  inscriptions.  2.  That  the 
palm  was  the  symbol  of  victory  among  the  Pagans.  3.  That 
among  the  Christians  it  served  as  the  emblem,  not  only  of 
martyrdom,  but  in  general  of  a  joyful  resurrection. 

■*o  As  a  specimen  of  these  legends,  we  may  be  satisfied  with 
10,000  Christian  soldiers  crucified  in  one  day,  either  by  Trajan 
or  Hadrian,  on  Mount  Ararat. 


114  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

testimony  of  his  friend  Dionysius,  who,  in  the  immense 
city  of  Alexandria,  and  under  the  rigorous  persecution 
of  Decius,  reckons  only  ten  men  and  seven  women 
who  suffered  for  the  profession  of  the  Christian  name. 
During  the  same  period  of  persecution,  the  zealous, 
the  eloquent,  the  ambitious  Cyprian,  governed  the 
church,  not  only  of  Carthage,  but  even  of  Africa.  He 
possessed  every  quality  which  could  engage  the  rever- 
ence of  the  faithful  or  provoke  the  suspicions  and 
resentment  of  the  Pagan  magistrates.  His  character 
as  well  as  his  station  seemed  to  mark  out  that  holy 
prelate  as  the  most  distinguished  object  of  envy  and 
of  danger.  The  experience,  however,  of  the  life  of 
Cyprian  is  sufficient  to  prove  that  our  fancy  has  ex- 
aggerated the  perilous  situation  of  a  Christian  bishop  ; 
and  that  the  dangers  to  which  he  was  exposed  were 
less  imminent  than  those  which  temporal  ambition  is 
always  prepared  to  encounter  in  the  pursuit  of  honours. 
Four  Roman  emperors,  with  their  families,  their  favour- 
ites, and  their  adherents,  perished  by  the  sword  in  the 
space  of  ten  years,  during  which  the  bishop  of  Carthage 
guided,  by  his  authority  and  eloquence,  the  counsels 
of  the  African  church.  It  was  only  in  the  third  year 
of  his  administration  that  he  had  reason,  during  a  few 
months,  to  apprehend  the  severe  edicts  of  Decius,  the 
vigilance  of  the  magistrate,  and  the  clamours  of  the 
multitude,  who  loudly  demanded  that  Cyprian,  the 
leader  of  the  Christians,  should  be  thrown  to  the  lions. 
Pi-udence  suggested  the  necessity  of  a  temporary  re- 
treat, and  the  voice  of  prudence  was  obeyed.  He 
withdrew  himself  into  an  obscure  solitude,  from  whence 
he  could  maintain  a  constant  correspondence  with  the 
clergy  and  people  of  Carthage  ;  and,  concealing  himself 
till  the  tempest  was  past,  he  preserved  his  life,  without 
relinquishing  either  his  power  or  his  reputation.  His 
extreme  caution  did  not,  however,  escape-  the  censure 
of  the  more  rigid  Christians  who  lamented,  or  the 
reproaches  of  his  personal  enemies  who  insulted,  a 
conduct  which  they  considered  as  a  pusillanimous  and 
criminal  desertion  of  the  most  sacred  duty.     The  pro- 


257-8  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  115 

priety  of  reserving  himself  for  the  future  exigencies  of 
the  church,  the  example  of  several  holy  bishops/^  and 
the  divine  admonitions  which,  as  he  declares  himself, 
he  frequently  received  in  visions  and  ecstacies,  were 
the  reasons  alleged  in  his  justification.  But  his  best 
apology  may  be  found  in  the  cheerful  resolution  with 
which,  about  eight  years  afterwards,  he  suffered  death 
in  the  cause  of  religion.  The  authentic  history  of  his 
martyrdom  has  been  recorded  with  unusual  candour 
and  impartiality.  A  short  abstract,  therefore,  of  its 
most  important  circumstances  will  convey  the  clearest 
information  of  the  spirit,  and  of  the  forms,  of  the 
Roman  persecutions.^ 

When  Valerian  was  consul  for  the  third,  and  Gal- 
lienus  for  the  fourth,  time,  Paternus,  proconsul  of 
Africa,  summoned  Cyprian  to  appear  in  his  private 
council-chamber.  He  there  acquainted  him  with  the 
Imperial  mandate  which  he  had  just  received,*^  that 
those  who  had  abandoned  the  Roman  religion  should 
immediately  return  to  the  practice  of  the  ceremonies 
of  their  ancestors.  Cyprian  replied  without  hesitation 
that  he  was  a  Christian  and  a  bishop,  devoted  to  the 
worship  of  the  true  and  only  Deity,  to  whom  he  offered 
up  his  daily  supplications  for  the  safety  and  prosperity 
of  the  two  emperors,  his  lawful  sovereigns.  With 
modest  confidence  he  pleaded  the  privilege  of  a  citizen, 
in  refusing  to  give  any  answer  to  some  invidious  and, 

47  In  particular  those  of  Dionysius  of  Alexandria  and  Gregory 
Thaumaturgus  of  Neo-Cassarea. 

43  We  have  an  original  life  of  Cyprian  by  the  deacon  Pontius, 
the  companion  of  his  exile,  and  the  spectator  of  his  death  ;  and 
we  likewise  possess  the  ancient  proconsular  acts  of  his  martyr- 
dom. These  two  relations  are  consistent  with  each  other  and 
with  probability ;  and,  what  is  somewhat  remarkable,  they  are 
both  unsullied  by  any  miraculous  circumstances. 

49  It  should  seem  that  these  were  circular  orders,  sent  at  the 
same  time  to  all  the  governors.  Dionysius  (ap.  Euseb.  1.  vii. 
c.  ii)  relates  the  history  of  his  own  banishment  from  Alexandria 
almost  in  the  same  manner.  But,  as  he  escaped  and  survived 
the  persecution,  we  must  account  him  either  more  or  less  fortu- 
nate than  Cyprian. 


116  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

indeed,  illegal  questions  which  the  proconsul  had  pro- 
posed. A  sentence  of  banishment  was  pronounced  as 
the  penalty  of  Cyprian's  disobedience  ;  and  he  was 
conducted,  without  delay,  to  Curubis,  a  free  and 
maritime  city  of  Zeuei'itana,  in  a  pleasant  situation,  a 
fertile  territory,  and  at  the  distance  of  about  forty 
miles  from  Carthag-e.  The  exiled  bishop  enjoyed  the 
conveniencies  of  life  and  the  consciousness  of  virtue. 
His  reputation  was  diffused  over  Africa  and  Italy  ;  an 
account  of  his  behaviour  was  published  for  the  edifica- 
tion of  the  Christian  world ;  and  his  solitude  was 
frequently  interrupted  by  the  letters,  the  visits,  and 
the  congratulations  of  the  faithful.  On  the  arrival  of 
a  new  proconsul  in  tlie  province,  the  fortune  of  Cyprian 
appeared  for  some  time  to  wear  a  still  more  favour- 
able aspect.  He  was  recalled  from  banishment ;  and, 
thougli  not  yet  permitted  to  return  to  Carthage,  his 
own  gardens  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  capital  Avere 
assigned  for  the  place  of  his  residence.^*^ 

At  length,  exactly  one  year^^  after  Cyprian  was 
first  apprehended,  Galerius  Maximus,  proconsul  of 
Africa,  received  the  Imperial  warrant  for  the  execution 
of  the  Christian  teachers.  ITie  bishop  of  Carthage 
was  sensible  that  he  should  be  singled  out  for  one  of 
the  first  victims  ;  and  the  frailty  of  nature  tempted 
him  to  withdraw  himself,  by  a  secret  flight,  from  the 
danger  and  tlie  honour  of  martyrdom  ;  but,  soon  re- 
covering that  fortitude  which  his  character  required, 
he  returned  to  his  gardens,  and  patiently  expected  the 
ministers  of  death.  Two  officers  of  rank,  who  were 
intrusted  witli  that  commission,  placed  Cyprian  between 
them  in  a  chariot ;  and,  as  the  proconsul  was  not  then 

w  Upon  his  conversion,  he  had  sold  those  gardens  for  the 
benefit  of  the  poor.  The  indulgence  of  God  (most  probably  the 
liberality  of  some  Christian  friend)  restored  them  to  Cyprian. 
See  Pontius,  c.  15. 

61  When  Cyprian,  a  twelvemonth  before,  was  sent  into  exile, 
be  dreamt  that  he  should  be  put  to  death  the  next  day.  The 
event  made  it  necessary  to  explain  that  word  as  signifying  a 
year.     Pontius,  c.  12. 


257-«  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  1]7 

at  leisure^  they  conducted  him,  not  to  a  prison,  hut  to 
a  private  house  in  Carthage,  which  helonged  to  one  of 
them.  An  elegant  supper  was  provided  for  the  enter- 
tainment of  the  hishop,  and  his  Christian  friends  were 
permitted  for  the  last  time  to  enjoy  his  society,  whilst 
the  streets  were  filled  with  a  multitude  of  the  faithful, 
anxious  and  alarmed  at  the  approaching  fate  of  their 
spiritual  father. °"^  In  the  morning  he  appeared  before 
the  tribunal  of  the  proconsul,  who,  after  informing 
himself  of  the  name  and  situation  of  Cyprian,  com- 
manded him  to  offer  sacrifice,  and  pressed  him  to  reflect 
on  the  consequences  of  his  disobedience.  The  refusal 
of  Cyprian  was  firm  and  decisive  ;  and  the  magistrate, 
when  he  had  taken  the  opinion  of  his  council,  pro- 
nounced with  some  reluctance  the  sentence  of  death. 
It  was  conceived  in  the  following  terms  :  '^That  Thascius 
Cyprianus  should  be  immediately  beheaded,  as  the 
enemy  of  the  gods  of  Rome,  and  as  the  chief  and  ring- 
leader of  a  criminal  association,  which  he  had  seduced 
into  an  impious  resistance  against  the  laws  of  the  most 
holy  emperors,  Valerian  and  Gallienus."  The  manner 
of  his  execution  was  the  mildest  and  least  painful  that 
could  be  inflicted  on  a  person  convicted  of  any  capital 
offence  :  nor  was  the  use  of  torture  admitted  to  obtain 
from  the  bishop  of  Carthage  either  the  recantation  of 
his  principles  or  the  discovery  of  his  accomplices. 

As  soon  as  the  sentence  was  proclaimed,  a  general 
cry  of  '^  We  will  die  with  him  "  arose  at  dnce  among 
the  listening  multitude  of  Christians  who  waited  before 
the  palace  gates.  The  generous  effusions  of  their  zeal 
and  affection  were  neither  serviceable  to  Cyprian  nor 
dangerous  to  themselves.  He  was  led  away  under  a 
guard  of  tribunes  and  centurions,  without  resistance 
and  without  insult,  to  the  place  of  his  execution,  a 

52  Pontius  (c.  15)  acknowledges  that  Cyprian,  with  whom  he 
supped,  passed  the  night  custodia  delicata.  The  bishop  exer- 
cised a  last  and  very  proper  act  of  jurisdiction,  by  directing 
that  the  younger  females  who  watched  in  the  street  should  be 
removed  from  the  dangers  and  temptations  of  a  nocturnal 
crowd. 


118  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

spacious  and  level  plain  near  the  city,  which  was 
already  filled  with  great  numbers  of  spectators.  His 
faithful  presbyters  and  deacons  were  permitted  to 
accompany  their  holy  bishop.  They  assisted  him  in 
laying  aside  his  upper  garment,  spread  linen  on  the 
ground  to  catch  the  precious  relics  of  his  blood,  and 
received  his  orders  to  bestow  five-and-twenty  pieces  of 
gold  on  the  executioner.  The  martyr  then  covered 
his  face  with  his  hands,  and  at  one  blow  his  head  was 
separated  from  his  body.  His  corpse  remained  during 
same  hours  exposed  to  the  curiosity  of  the  Gentiles  ; 
but  in  the  night  it  was  removed,  and  transported  in  a 
triumphal  procession  and  with  a  splendid  illumination 
to  the  burial-place  of  the  Christians.  The  funeral  of 
Cyprian  was  publicly  celebrated  without  receiving  any 
interruption  from  the  Roman  magistrates  ;  and  those 
among  the  faithful  who  had  performed  the  last  offices 
to  his  person  and  his  memory  were  secure  from  the 
danger  of  inquiry  or  of  punishment.  It  is  remarkable 
that  of  so  great  a  multitude  of  bishops  in  the  province 
of  Africa  Cyprian  was  the  first  who  was  esteemed 
worthy  to  obtain  the  crown  of  martyrdom. 

It  was  in  the  choice  of  Cyprian  either  to  die  a  martyr 
or  to  live  an  apostate,  but  on  that  choice  depended  the 
alternative  of  honour  or  infamy.  Could  we  suppose 
that  the  bishop  of  Carthage  had  employed  the  pro- 
fession of  the  Christian  faith  only  as  the  instrument 
of  his  avai'ice  or  ambition,  it  was  still  incumbent  on 
him  to  support  the  character  which  he  had  assumed  ;  ^ 
and,  if  he  possessed  the  smallest  degree  of  manly 
fortitude,  rather  to  expose  himself  to  the  most  cruel 
tortures  than  by  a  single  act  to  exchange  the  reputa- 
tion of  a  whole  life  for  the  abhorrence  of  his  Christian 
brethren  and  the  contempt  of  the  Gentile  world.  But, 
if  the  zeal  of  Cyprian  was  supported  by  the  sincere 
conviction  of  the  truth  of  those  doctrines  which   he 

53  Whatever  opinion  we  may  entertain  of  the  character  or 
principles  of  Thomas  Becket,  we  must  acknowledge  that  he 
suffered  death  with  a  constancy  not  unworthy  of  the  primitive 
martyrs. 


258  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  119 

preached,  the  crown  of  martyrdom  must  have  appeared 
to  him  as  an  object  of  desire  rather  than  of  terror. 
It  is  not  easy  to  extract  any  distinct  ideas  from  the 
vague  though  eloquent  declamations  of  the  Fathers  or 
to  ascertain  the  degree  of  immortal  glory  and  happi- 
ness which  they  confidently  promised  to  those  who 
were  so  fortunate  as  to  shed  their  blood  in  the  cause 
of  religion."^  They  inculcated  with  becoming  diligence 
that  the  fire  of  martyrdom  supplied  every  defect  and 
expiated  every  sin  ;  that,  while  the  souls  of  ordinary 
Christians  were  obliged  to  pass  through  a  slow  and 
painful  purification,  the  triumphant  sufferers  entered 
into  the  immediate  fruition  of  eternal  bliss,  where,  in 
the  society  of  the  patriarchs,  the  apostles,  and  the 
prophets,  they  reigned  with  Christ,  and  acted  as  his 
assessors  in  the  universal  judgment  of  mankind.  The 
assurance  of  a  lasting  reputation  upon  earth,  a  motive 
so  congenial  to  the  vanity  of  human  nature,  often 
served  to  animate  the  courage  of  the  martyrs.  The 
honours  which  Rome  or  Athens  bestowed  on  those 
citizens  who  had  fallen  in  the  cause  of  their  country 
were  cold  and  unmeaning  demonstrations  of  respect, 
when  compared  with  the  ardent  gratitude  and  devotion 
which  the  primitive  church  expressed  towards  the 
victorious  champions  of  the  faith.  The  annual  com- 
memoration of  their  virtues  and  sufferings  was  observed 
as  a  sacred  ceremony,  and  at  length  terminated  in 
religious  worship.  Among  the  Christians  who  had 
publicly  confessed  their  religious  principles,  those  who 
(as  it  very  frequently  happened)  had  been  dismissed 
from  the  tribunal  or  the  prisons  of  the  Pagan  magis- 
trates obtained  such  honours  as  were  justly  due  to 
their  imperfect  martyrdom  and  their  generous  resolu- 
tion. The  most  pious  females  courted  the  permission 
of  imprinting  kisses  on  the  fetters  which  they  had 
worn  and  on  the  wounds  which  they  had  received. 
Their  persons  were  esteemed  holy,  their  decisions  were 

54  The  learning  of  Dodwell  and  the  ingenuity  of  Middleton 
have  left  scarcely  anything  to  add  concerning  the  merit,  the 
honours,  and  the  motives  of  the  martyrs. 


120  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

admitted  with  deference,  and  they  too  often  abused, 
hy  their  spiritual  pride  and  licentious  manners,  the 
pre-eminence  which  tlieir  zeal  and  intrepidity  had 
acquired. ^^  Distinctions  like  these,  whilst  they  display 
the  exalted  merit,  betray  the  inconsiderable  number, 
of  those  who  suffered  and  of  those  who  died  for  the 
profession  of  Christianity. 

Tlie  sober  discretion  of  the  present  age  will  more 
readily  censure  than  admire,  but  can  more  easily 
admire  than  imitate,  the  fervour  of  the  first  Christians ; 
who,  according  to  the  lively  expression  of  Sulpicius 
Severus,  desired  martyrdom  with  more  eagerness  than 
his  own  contemporaries  solicited  a  bishopric.  The 
epistles  which  Ignatius  composed  as  he  was  carried  in 
chains  through  the  cities  of  Asia  breathe  sentiments 
the  most  repugnant  to  the  ordinary  feelings  of  human 
nature.  He  earnestly  beseeches  the  Romans  that, 
when  he  should  he  exposed  in  the  amphitheatre,  they 
would  not,  by  their  kind  but  unseasonable  interces- 
sion, deprive  him  of  the  crown  of  glory ;  and  he 
declares  his  resolution  to  provoke  and  irritate  the  M-ild 
beasts  which  might  be  employed  as  the  instruments  of 
his  death.^  Some  stories  are  related  of  the  courage 
of  martyrs  who  actually  performed  what  Ignatius  had 
intended ;  who  exasperated  the  fury  of  the  lions, 
pressed  the  executioner  to  hasten  his  office,  cheerfully 
leaped  into  the  fires  which  were  kindled  to  consume 
them,  and  discovered  a  sensation  of  joy  and  pleasure 
in  the  midst  of  the  most  exquisite  tortures.  Several 
examples  have  been  preserved  of  a  zeal  impatient  of 
those  restraints  which  the  emperors  had  provided  for 
the  security  of  the  church.  Tlie  Christians  sometimes 
supplied  by  their  voluntary  declaration  the  want  of  an 
accuser,  rudely  disturbed  the  public  service  of  Pagan- 

55  The  number  of  pretended  martyrs  has  been  very  much 
muhiplied  by  the  custom  which  was  introduced  of  bestowing 
that  honourable  name  on  confessors. 

66  It  suited  the  purpose  of  Bishop  Pearson  to  justify,  by 
a  profusion  of  examples  and  authorities,  the  sentiments  of 
Ignatius. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  121 

ism/'  and,  rushing  in  crowds  round  the  tribunal  of 
the  magistrates,  called  upon  them  to  pronounce  and 
to  inflict  the  sentence  of  the  law.  The  behaviour  of 
the  Christians  was  too  remarkable  to  escape  the  notice 
of  the  ancient  philosophers  ;  but  they  seem  to  have 
considered  it  with  much  less  admiration  than  astonish- 
ment. Incapable  of  conceiving-  the  motives  which 
sometimes  transported  the  fortitude  of  believers  beyond 
the  bounds  of  prudence  or  reason,  they  treated  such 
an  eagerness  to  die  as  the  strange  result  of  obstinate 
despair,  of  stupid  insensibility,  or  of  superstitious 
frenzy.  "  Unhappy  men  !  "  exclaimed  the  proconsul 
Antoninus  to  the  Christians  of  Asia  ;  "unhappy  men  ! 
if  you  are  thus  weary  of  your  lives,  is  it  so  difficult 
for  you  to  find  ropes  and  precipices.^"  ^  He  was 
extremely  cautious  (as  it  is  observed  by  a  learned  and 
pious  historian)  of  punishing  men  who  had  found  no 
accusers  but  themselves,  the  Imperial  laws  not  having 
made  any  provision  for  so  unexpected  a  case  ;  con- 
demning, therefore,  a  few  as  a  warning  to  their 
brethren,  he  dismissed  the  multitude  with  indignation 
and  contempt.  Notwithstanding  this  real  or  affected 
disdain,  the  intrepid  constancy  of  the  faithful  was 
productive  of  more  salutary  effects  on  those  minds 
which  nature  or  grace  had  disposed  for  the  easy  recep- 
tion of  religious  truth.  On  these  melancholy  occa- 
sions, there  were  many  among  the  Gentiles  who  pitied, 
who  admired,  and  who  were  converted.  The  generous 
enthusiasm  was  communicated  from  the  sufferer  to  the 
spectators  ;  and  the  blood  of  martyrs,  according  to  a 
well-known  observation,  became  the  seed  of  the  church. 

57  The  story  of  Polyeuctes,  on  which  Corneille  has  founded 
a  very  beautiful  tragedy,  is  one  of  the  most  celebrated,  though 
not  perhaps  the  most  authentic,  instances  of  this  excessive  zeal. 
We  should  observe  that  the  6oth  canon  of  the  council  of  IlIilDeris 
refuses  the  title  of  martyrs  to  those  who  exposed  themselves  to 
death  by  publicly  destroying  the  idols. 

58  The  learned  are  divided  between  three  persons  of  the  same 
name,  who  were  all  proconsuls  of  Asia.  I  am  inclined  to  ascribe 
this  story  to  Antoninus  Pius,  who  was  afterwards  emperor  ;  and 
who  may  have  governed  Asia  under  the  reign  of  Trajan. 


no  ma 


122  THE   DECLINE  AND   FALL 

But,  although  devotion  had  raised,  and  eloquence 
continued  to  inflame,  this  fever  of  the  mind,  it  in- 
sensibly gave  way  to  the  more  natural  hopes  and  fears 
of  the  human  heart,  to  the  love  of  life,  the  apprehension 
of  pain,  and  the  horror  of  dissolution.  The  more 
prudent  rulers  of  the  church  found  themselves  obliged 
to  restrain  the  indiscreet  ardour  of  their  followers, 
and  to  distrust  a  constancy  which  too  often  abandoned 
them  in  the  hour'  of  trial.  As  the  lives  of  the  faithful 
became  less  mortified  and  austere,  they  were  every  day 
less  ambitious  of  the  honours  of  martyrdom  ;  and  the 
soldiers  of  Christ,  instead  of  distinguishing  themselves 
by  voluntary  deeds  of  heroism,  frequently  deserted 
their  post,  and  fled  in  confusion  before  the  enemy 
whom  it  was  their  duty  to  resist.  There  were  three 
methods,  however,  of  escaping  the  flames  of  persecution, 
which  were  nor  attended  with  an  equal  degree  of  guilt : 
the  first,  indeed,  was  generally  allowed  to  be  innocent ; 
the  second  was  of  a  doubtful,  or  at  least  of  a  venial, 
nature  ;  but  the  third  implied  a  direct  and  criminal 
apostacy  from  the  Christian  faith. 

L  A  modern  inquisitor  would  hear  with  surprise 
that,  whenever  an  information  was  given  to  a  Roman 
magistrate  of  any  person  within  his  jurisdiction  who 
had  embraced  the  sect  of  the  Christians,  the  charge 
was  communicated  to  the  party  accused,  and  that  a 
convenient  time  was  allowed  him  to  settle  his  domestic 
concerns  and  to  prepare  an  answer  to  the  crime  which 
was  imputed  to  him.^^  If  he  entertained  any  doubt  of 
his  own  constancy,  such  a  delay  afl'orded  him  the 
opportunity  of  preserving  his  life  and  honour  by  flight, 
of  withdrawing  himself  into  some  obscure  retirement 
or  some  distant  province,  and  of  patiently  expecting 
the  return  of  peace  and  se<'urity.  A  measure  so 
consonant  to  reason  was  soon  authorised  by  the  advice 

59  In  the  second  apology  of  Justin,  there  is  a  particular  and 
very  curious  instance  of  this  legal  delay.  The  same  indulgence 
was  granted  to  accused  Christians  in  the  persecution  of  Decius  ; 
and  Cyprian  (de  Lapsis)  expressly  mentions  the  "Dies  negan- 
tibus  praestitutus." 


OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  123 

and  example  of  the  most  holy  prelates,  and  seems  to 
have  been  censured  by  few,  except  by  the  Montanists, 
who  deviated  into  heresy  by  their  strict  and  obstinate 
adherence  to  the  rig-our  of  ancient  disciplined*^  II. 
The  provincial  g-overnors,  whose  zeal  was  less  prevalent 
than  their  avarice,  had  countenanced  the  practice  of 
selling  certificates  (or  libels  as  they  were  called), 
which  attested  that  the  persons  therein  mentioned  had 
complied  with  the  laws  and  sacrificed  to  the  Roman 
deities.  By  producing  these  false  declarations,  the 
opulent  and  timid  Christians  were  enabled  to  silence 
the  malice  of  an  informer  and  to  reconcile,  in  some 
measure,  their  safety  with  their  religion.  A  slight 
penance  atoned  for  this  profane  dissimulation.  III.  In 
every  persecution  there  were  great  numbers  of  un- 
worthy Christians  who  publicly  disowned  or  renounced 
the  faith  which  they  had  professed  ;  and  who  confirmed 
the  sincerity  of  their  abjuration  by  the  legal  acts  of 
burning  incense  or  of  offering  sacrifices.  Some  of 
these  apostates  had  yielded  on  the  first  menace  or 
exhortation  of  the  magistrate  ;  whilst  the  patience  of 
others  had  been  subdued  by  the  length  and  repetition 
of  tortures.  The  affrighted  countenances  of  some 
betrayed  their  inward  remorse,  while  others  advanced, 
with  confidence  and  alacrity,  to  the  altars  of  the  gods. 
But  the  disguise  which  fear  had  imposed  subsisted  no 
longer  than  the  present  danger.  As  soon  as  the 
severity  of  the  persecution  was  abated,  the  doors  of  the 
churches  were  assailed  by  the  returning  multitude  of 
penitents,  who  detested  their  idolatrous  submission,  and 
who  solicited,  with  equal  ardour,  but  with  various  suc- 
cess, their  readmission  into  the  society  of  Christians. ^^ 

^  Tertullian  considers  flight  from  persecution  as  an  imperfect, 
but  very  criminal  apostacy,  as  an  impious  attempt  to  elude  the 
will  of  God,  &c.  &c.  He  has  written  a  treatise  on  this  subject, 
which  is  filled  with  the  wildest  fanaticism  and  the  most  inco- 
herent declamation.  It  is,  however,  somewhat  remarkable  that 
Tertullian  did  not  suffer  martyrdom  himself. 

SI  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Cyprian  wrote  his  treatise  De 
Lapsis  and  many  of  his  epistles.  The  controversy  concerning 
the  treatment  of  penitent  apostates  does  not  occur  among  the 


124  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

IV.  Notwithstanding  the  general  rules  established 
for  the  conviction  and  punishment  of  the  Christians, 
the  fate  of  those  sectaries,  in  an  extensive  and  arbitrary 
government,  must  still,  in  a  great  measure,  have 
depended  on  their  own  behaviour,  the  circumstances 
of  the  times,  and  the  temper  of  their  supreme  as  well 
as  subordinate  rulers.  Zeal  might  sometimes  provoke, 
and  prudence  might  sometimes  avert  or  assuage,  the 
superstitious  fury  of  the  Pagans.  A  variety  of  motives 
might  dispose  the  provincial  governors  either  to  en- 
force or  to  relax  the  execution  of  the  laws  ;  and  of 
these  motives  the  most  forcible  was  their  regard  not 
only  for  the  public  edicts,  but  for  the  secret  intentions 
of  the  emperor,  a  glance  from  whose  eye  was  sufficient 
to  kindle  or  to  extinguish  the  flames  of  persecution.  As 
often  as  any  occasional  severities  were  exercised  in  the 
different  parts  of  the  empire,  the  primitive  Christians 
lamented  and  perhaps  magnified  their  own  sufferings  ; 
but  the  celebrated  number  of  ten  persecutions  has  been 
determined  by  the  ecclesiastical  writers  of  the  fifth 
century,  who  possessed  a  more  distinct  view  of  the 
prosperous  or  adverse  fortunes  of  the  church,  from 
the  age  of  Nero  to  that  of  Diocletian.  The  ingenious 
parallels  of  the  ten  plagues  of  Egypt  and  of  the  ten 
horns  of  the  Apocalypse  first  suggested  this  calculation 
to  their  minds  ;  and  in  their  application  of  the  faith  of 
prophecy  to  the  truth  of  history  they  were  careful  to 
select  those  reigns  which  were  indeed  the  most  hostile 
to  the  Christian  cause. ^^  But  these  transient  persecu- 
tions served  only  to  revive  the  zeal,  and  to  restore  the 
discipline,  of  the  faithful  :  and  the  moments  of  extra- 
ordinary rigour  were  compensated  by  much  longer 
intervals  of  peace  and  security.  The  indifference  of 
some  princes  and  the  indulgence  of  others  permitted 

Christians  of  the  preceding  century.  Shall  we  ascribe  this  to 
the  superiority  of  their  faith  and  courage  or  to  our  less  intimate 
knowledge  of  their  history  ? 

62  Sulpicius  Severus  was  the  first  author  of  this  computation  ; 
though  he  seemed  desirous  of  reserving  the  tenth  and  greatest 
persecution  for  the  coming  of  the  Antichrist. 


180  OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  125 

the  Christians  to  enjoy,  thoug-h  not  perhaps  a  legal, 
yet  an  actual  and  public^,  toleration  of  their  religion. 

Tlie  apology  of  Tertullian  contains  two  very  ancient, 
very  singular,  but  at  the  same  time  very  suspicious, 
instances  of  Imperial  clemency  ;  the  edicts  published 
by  Tiberius  and  by  Marcus  Antoninus^  and  designed 
not  only  to  protect  the  innocence  of  the  Christians, 
but  even  to  proclaim  those  stupendous  miracles  which 
had  attested  the  truth  of  their  doctrine.  The  first  of 
these  examples  is  attended  with  some  difficulties  which 
might  perplex  the  sceptical  mind.  We  are  required  to 
believe  that  Pontius  Pilate  informed  the  emperor  of 
the  unjust  sentence  of  death  which  he  had  pronounced 
against  an  innocent,  and,  as  it  appeared,  a  divine, 
person  ;  and  that,  without  acquiring  the  merit,  he 
exposed  himself  to  the  danger,  of  martyrdom  ;  that 
Tiberius,  who  avowed  his  contempt  for  all  religion, 
immediately  conceived  tlie  design  of  placing  the  Jewish 
Messiah  among  the  gods  of  Rome  ;  that  his  servile 
senate  ventured  to  disobey  the  commands  of  their 
master  ;  that  Tiberius,  instead  of  resenting  their  refusal, 
contented  himself  with  protecting  the  Christians  from 
the  severity  of  the  laws,  many  years  before  such  laws 
were  enacted,  or  before  the  cliurch  had  assumed  any 
distinct  name  or  existence  ;  and  lastly,  that  the  memory 
of  this  extraordinary  transaction  was  ])reserved  in  the 
most  public  and  authentic  records,  which  escaped  the 
knowledge  of  the  historians  of  Greece  and  Rome,  and 
were  only  visible  to  the  eyes  of  an  African  Christian, 
who  composed  his  apology  one  hundred  and  sixty 
years  after  the  death  of  Tiberius.  The  edict  of  Marcus 
Antoninus  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  effect  of  his 
devotion  and  gratitude  for  the  miraculous  deliverance 
which  he  had  obtained  in  the  Marcomannic  war.  The 
distress  of  the  legions,  the  seasonable  tempest  of  rain 
and  hail,  of  thunder  and  lightning,  and  the  dismay 
and  defeat  of  the  barbarians,  have  been  celebrated  by 
the  eloquence  of  several  Pagan  writers.  If  there  were 
any  Christians  in  that  army,  it  was  natural  that  they 
should    ascribe    some    merit    to    the    fervent    prayers 


126  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

which,  in  the  moment  of  danger,  they  had  offered  up 
for  their  own  and  the  public  safety.  But  we  are  stiU 
assured  by  monuments  of  brass  and  marble,  by  the 
Imperial  medals,  and  by  the  Antonine  column,  that 
neither  the  prince  nor  the  people  entertained  any 
sense  of  this  signal  obligation,  since  they  unanimously 
attribute  their  deliverance  to  the  providence  of  Jupiter 
and  to  the  interposition  of  Mercury.  During  the  whole 
course  of  his  reign,  Marcus  despised  the  Christians  as 
a  philosopher,  and  punished  them  as  a  sovereign. 

By  a  singular  fatality,  the  hardships  which  they  had 
endured  under  the  government  of  a  virtuous  prince 
immediately  ceased  on  the  accession  of  a  tyrant,  and, 
as  none  except  themselves  had  experienced  the  injustice 
of  Marcus,  so  they  alone  were  protected  by  the  lenity 
of  Commodus.  The  celebrated  Marcia,  the  most 
favoured  of  his  concubines,  and  who  at  length  con- 
trived the  murder  of  her  Imperial  lover,  entertained 
a  singular  affection  for  the  oppressed  church  ;  and, 
though  it  was  impossible  that  she  could  reconcile  the 
practice  of  vice  with  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel,  she 
might  hope  to  atone  for  the  frailties  of  her  sex  and 
profession,  by  declaring  herself  the  patroness  of  the 
Christians.  Under  the  gracious  protection  of  Marcia, 
they  passed  in  safety  the  thirteen  years  of  a  cruel 
tyranny ;  and,  when  the  empire  was  established  in 
the  house  of  Severus,  they  formed  a  domestic  but 
more  honourable  connection  with  the  new  court.  The 
emperor  was  persuaded  that,  in  a  dangerous  sickness, 
he  had  derived  some  benefit,  either  spiritual  or  physical, 
from  the  holy  oil  with  which  one  of  his  slaves  had 
anointed  him.  He  always  treated  with  peculiar  dis- 
tinction several  persons  of  both  sexes  who  had  embraced 
the  new  religion.  The  nurse  as  well  as  the  preceptor 
of  Caracalla  were  Christians  ;  and,  if  that  young  prince 
ever  betrayed  a  sentiment  of  humanity,  it  was  occa- 
sioned by  an  incident  which,  however  trifling,  bore 
some  relation  to  the  cause  of  Christianity.  Under  the 
reign  of  Severus,  the  fury  of  the  populace  was  checked  ; 
the  rigour  of  ancient  laws  was  for  some  time  suspended ; 


211-49         OF  THE  -ROMAN   EMPIRE  127 

and  the  provincial  governors  were  satisfied  with  receiv- 
ing an  annual  present  from  the  churches  within  their 
jurisdiction,  as  the  price,  or  as  the  reward,  of  their 
moderation,^3  xhe  controversy  concerning  the  precise 
time  of  the  celebration  of  Easter  armed  the  bishops  of 
Asia  and  Italy  against  each  other,  and  was  considered 
as  the  most  important  business  of  this  period  of  leisure 
and  tranquillity.  Nor  was  the  peace  of  the  church  in- 
terrupted till  the  increasing  numbers  of  proselytes 
seem  at  length  to  have  attracted  the  attention,  and  to 
have  alienated  the  mind,  of  Severus.  AVlth  the  design 
of  restraining  the  progress  of  Christianity,  he  published 
an  edict  which,  though  it  was  designed  to  affect  only 
the  new  converts,  could  not  be  carried  into  strict  exe- 
cution without  exposing  to  danger  and  punishment  the 
most  zealous  of  their  teachers  and  missionaries.  In 
this  mitigated  persecution,  we  may  still  discover  the 
indulgent  spirit  of  Rome  and  of  Polytheism,  which  so 
readily  admitted  every  excuse  in  favour  of  those  who 
practised  the  religious  ceremonies  of  their  fathers. 

But  the  laws  which  Severus  had  enacted  soon  expired 
with  the  authority  of  that  emperor  ;  and  the  Christians, 
after  this  accidental  tempest,  enjoyed  a  calm  of  thirty- 
eight  years.  Till  this  period  they  had  usually  held 
their  assemblies  in  private  houses  and  sequestered 
places.  They  were  now  permitted  to  erect  and  conse- 
crate convenient  edifices  for  the  purpose  of  religious 
worship ;  ^^  to  purchase  lands,  even  at  Rome  itself,  for 
the  use  of  the  community  ;  and  to  conduct  the  elections 
of  their  ecclesiastical  ministers  in  so  public,  but  at  the 
same  time  in  so  exemplary,  a  manner  as  to   deserve 

63  Terlullian  de  Fuga,  c,  13.  The  present  was  made  during 
the  feast  of  the  Saturnalia  ;  and  it  is  a  matter  of  serious  concern 
to  Tertullian  that  the  faithful  should  be  confounded  with  the 
most  infamous  professions  which  purchased  the  connivance  of 
the  government. 

^  The  antiquity  of  Christian  churches  is  discussed  by  Tille- 
mont  (M^moires  Eccl^siastiques,  torn.  iii.  part  ii.  pp.  68-72),  and 
by  Mr.  Moyle  (vol.  i.  pp.  378-398).  The  former  refers  the  first 
construction  of  them  to  the  peace  of  Alexander  Severus  ;  the 
latter  to  the  peace  of  Gallienus. 


128  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

the  respectful  attention  of  the  Gentiles.^  This  long 
repose  of  the  church  was  accompanied  with  dignity. 
The  reigns  of  those  princes  who  derived  their  ex- 
traction from  the  Asiatic  provinces  proved  the  most 
favourable  to  the  Christians  ;  the  eminent  persons  of 
the  sect^  instead  of  being  reduced  to  implore  the  pro- 
tection of  a  slave  or  concubine,  were  admitted  into  the 
palace  in  the  honourable  characters  of  priests  and 
philosophers  ;  and  their  mysterious  doctrines,  which 
were  already  diffused  among  the  people,  insensibly 
attracted  the  curiosity  of  their  sovereign.  When  the 
empress  Mammaea  passed  through  Antioch,  she  ex- 
})ressed  a  desire  of  conversing  with  the  celebrated 
Origen,  the  fame  of  whose  piety  and  learning  was 
spread  over  the  East.  Origen  obeyed  so  flattering  an 
invitation,  and,  though  he  could  not  expect  to  succeed 
in  the  conversion  of  an  artful  and  ambitious  woman, 
she  listened  with  pleasure  to  his  eloquent  exhortations, 
and  honourably  dismissed  him  to  his  retirement  in 
Palestine.^  The  sentiments  of  Mammaea  were  adopted 
by  her  son  Alexander,  and  the  philosophic  devotion 
of  that  emperor  was  marked  by  a  singular  but  in- 
judicious regard  for  the  Christian  religion.  In  his 
domestic  chapel  he  placed  the  statues  of  Abraham, 
of  Orpheus,  of  Apollonius,  and  of  Christ,  as  an  honour 
justly  due  to  those  respectable  sages  who  had  instructed 
mankind  in  the  various  modes  of  addressing  their 
homage  to  the  supreme  and  universal  deity.^'^     A  purer 

*5  The  emperor  Alexander  adopted  their  method  of  publicly 
proposing  the  names  of  those  persons  who  were  candidates  for 
ordination.  It  is  true  that  the  honour  of  this  practice  is  likewise 
attributed  to  the  Jews. 

66  Mammasa  was  styled  a  holy  and  pious  woman,  both  by 
the  Christians  and  the  Pagans.  From  the  former,  therefore,  it 
was  impossible  that  she  should  deserve  that  honourable  epithet. 

67  His  design  of  building  a  public  temple  to  Christ  (Hist. 
August,  p.  I2g)  and  the  objection  which'  was  suggested  either 
to  him  or  in  similar  circumstances  to  Hadrian  appear  to  have 
no  other  foundation  than  an  improbable  report,  invented  by 
the  Christians  and  credulously  adopted  by  an  historian  of  the 
asre  of  Constantine. 


1^50  OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  129 

faith,  as  well  as  worship,  was  openly  professed  and 
practised  among  his  household.  Bishops,  perhaps 
for  the  first  time,  were  seen  at  court  ;  and  after  the 
death  of  Alexander,  when  the  inhuman  Maximin  dis- 
charged his  fury  on  the  favourites  and  servants  of  his 
unfortunate  henefactor,  a  great  number  of  Christians, 
of  every  rank,  and  of  both  sexes,  were  involved  in  the 
promiscuous  massacre,  which,  on  their  account,  has 
improperly  received  the  name  of  Persecution.^ 

Notwithstanding  the  cruel  disposition  of  Maximin, 
the  eifects  of  his  resentment  against  the  Christians 
were  of  a  very  local  and  temporary  nature,  and  the 
pious  Origen,  who  had  been  proscribed  as  a  devoted 
victim,  was  still  reserved  to  convey  the  truths  of  the 
Gospel  to  the  ear  of  monarchs.  He  addressed  several 
edifying  letters  to  the  emperor  Philip,  to  his  wife,  and 
to  his  mother ;  and,  as  soon  as  that  prince,  who  was 
born  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Palestine,  had  usurped 
the  Imperial  sceptre,  the  Christians  acquired  a  friend 
and  a  protector.  The  public  and  even  partial  favour 
of  Philip  towards  the  sectaries  of  the  new  religion,  and 
his  constant  reverence  for  the  ministers  of  the  church, 
irave  some  colour  to  the  suspicion,  which  prevailed  in 
liis  own  times,  that  the  emperor  himself  was  become  a 
convert  to  the  faith  ;  ^^  and  afforded  some  grounds  for 
a  fable  which   was  afterwards  invented,  that  he  had 

^3  It  may  be  presumed  that  the  success  of  the  Christians  had 
exasperated  the  increasing  bigotry  of  the  Pagans.  Dion  Cassius, 
who  composed  his  history  under  the  former  reign,  had  most 
probably  intended  for  the  use  of  his  master  those  counsels  of 
persecution  which  he  ascribes  to  a  better  age  and  to  the  favourite 
of  Augustus. 

69  The  mention  of  those  princes  who  were  publicly  supposed 
to  be  Christians,  as  we  find  it  in  an  epistle  of  Dionysius  of 
Alexandria  (ap.  Euseb.  1.  vii.  c.  lo),  evidently  alludes  to  Philip 
and  his  family,  and  forms  a  contemporary  evidence  that  such 
a  report  had  prevailed  ;  but  the  Egyptian  bishop,  who  lived  at 
an  humble  distance  from  the  court  of  Rome,  expresses  himself 
with  a  becoming  diffidence  concerning  tiie  truth  of  the  fact.  The 
epistles  of  Origen  (which  were  extant  in  the  time  of  Eusebius, 
see  1.  vi.  c.  36)  would  most  probably  decide  this  curious,  rather 
than  important,  question. 

VOL.  U.  E 


130  THE  DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

been  purified  by  confession  and  penance  from  the 
guilt  contracted  by  the  murder  of  his  innocent  pre- 
decessor. The  fall  of  Philip  introduced,  with  the 
chanofe  of  masters,  a  new  system  of  government,  so 
oppressive  to  the  Christians  that  their  former  condition, 
ever  since  the  time  of  Domitiau,  was  represented  as  a 
state  of  perfect  freedom  and  security,  if  compared  with 
the  rigorous  treatment  which  they  experienced  under 
the  short  reign  of  Decius.  The  virtues  of  that  prince 
will  scarcely  allow  us  to  expect  that  he  was  actuated 
by  a  mean  resentment  against  the  favourites  of  his 
predecessor,  and  it  is  more  reasonable  to  believe  that, 
in  the  prosecution  of  his  general  design  to  restore  the 
purity  of  Roman  manners,  he  was  desirous  of  delivering 
the  empire  from  what  he  condemned  as  a  recent  and 
criminal  superstition.  The  bishops  of  the  most  con- 
siderable cities  were  removed  by  exile  or  death  ;  the 
vigilance  of  the  magistrates  prevented  the  clergy  of 
Rome  during  sixteen  mouths  from  proceeding  to  a 
new  election  ;  and  it  was  the  opinion  of  the  Christians 
that  the  emperor  would  more  patiently  endure  a  com- 
petitor for  the  purple  than  a  bishop  in  the  capital."*^ 
Were  it  possible  to  suppose  that  the  penetration  of 
Decius  had  discovered  pride  under  the  disguise  of 
humility,  or  that  he  could  foresee  the  temporal  dominion 
which  might  insensibly  arise  from  the  claims  of  spiritual 
authority,  we  might  be  less  surprised  that  he  should 
consider  the  successors  of  St.  Peter  as  the  most  formid- 
able rivals  to  those  of  Augustus. 

The  administration  of  Valerian  was  distinguished  by 
a  levity  and  inconstancy,  ill-suited  to  the  gravity  of 
the  Roman  Censor.  In  the  first  part  of  his  reign,  he 
surpassed  in  clemency  those  princes  who  had  been 
suspected  of  an  attachment  to  the  Christian  faith.  In 
the  last  three  years  and  a  half,  listening  to  the  insinu- 
ations of  a  minis-ter  addicted  to  the  superstitions  of 

70  The  see  of  Rome  remained  vacant  from  the  martyrdom  of 
Fabianus,  the  20th  of  January,  A.D.  250,  till  the  election  of 
Cornelius,  the  4th  of  June,  A.D.  251.  Decius  had  probably  left. 
Rome,  since  he  was  killed  before  the  end  of  that  year. 


253-60         OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  131 

Egypt,  he  adopted  the  maxims,  and  imitated  the 
severity,  of  his  predecessor  Decius.  The  accession  of 
Gallienus,  which  increased  the  calamities  of  the  empire, 
restored  peace  to  the  church ;  and  the  Christians 
obtained  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion,  by  an  edict 
addressed  to  the  bishops  and  conceived  in  such  terms 
as  seemed  to  acknowledge  their  office  and  public 
character.  The  ancient  laws,  without  being  formally 
repealed,  were  suffered  to  sink  into  oblivion  ;  and 
(excepting  only  some  hostile  intentions  which  are 
attributed  to  the  emperor  Aurelian)  the  disciples  of 
Christ  passed  above  forty  years  in  a  state  of  prosperity, 
far  more  dangerous  to  their  virtue  than  the  severest 
trials  of  persecution. 

The  story  of  Paul  of  Samosata,  who  filled  the  metro- 
politan see  of  Antioch,  while  the  East  was  in  the  hands 
of  Odenathus  and  Zenobia,  may  serve  to  illustrate  the 
condition  and  character  of  the  times.  The  wealth  of 
that  prelate  was  a  sufficient  evidence  of  his  guilt,  since 
it  was  neither  derived  from  the  inheritance  of  his 
fathers  nor  acquired  by  the  arts  of  honest  industry. 
But  Paul  considered  the  service  of  the  church  as  a  very 
lucrative  profession."^  His  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction 
was  venal  and  rapacious  ;  he  extorted  frequent  contri- 
butions from  the  most  opulent  of  the  faithful,  and 
converted  to  his  own  use  a  considerable  part  of  the 
public  revenue.  By  his  pride  and  luxury  the  Christian 
religion  was  rendered  odious  in  the  eyes  of  the  Gentiles. 
His  council  chamber  and  his  throne,  the  splendour 
with  which  he  appeared  in  public,  the  suppliant  crowd 
who  solicited  his  attention,  the  multitude  of  letters 
and  petitions  to  which  he  dictated  his  answers,  and 
the  perpetual  hurry  of  business  in  which  he  was  in- 

^  Paul  was  better  pleased  with  the  title  of  Ducenarius,  than 
with  that  of  bishop.  The  Ducenarius  was  an  Imperial  pro- 
curator, so  called  from  his  salary  of  two  hundred  Sestertia,  or 
_^i6oo  a  year.  Some  critics  suppose  that  the  bishop  of  Antioch 
had  actually  obtained  such  an  office  from  Zenobia,  while  others 
consider  it  only  as  a  figurative  expression  of  his  pomp  and 
insolence. 


132  THE  DECLINE  AND   FALL  a.d. 

volved,  were  circumstances  much  better  suited  to  the 
state  of  a  civil  magistrate  "^'^  than  to  the  humility  of  a 
primitive  bishop.  AFhen  he  harangued  his  people 
from  the  pulpit,  Paul  affected  the  figurative  style  and 
the  theatrical  gestures  of  an  Asiatic  sophist,  while  the 
cathedral  resounded  with  the  loudest  and  most  extrava- 
gant acclamations  in  the  praise  of  his  divine  eloquence. 
Against  those  who  resisted  his  power,  or  refused  to 
flatter  his  vanity,  the  prelate  of  Antioch  was  arrogant, 
rigid,  and  inexorable ;  but  he  relaxed  the  discipline, 
and  lavished  the  treasures,  of  the  church  on  his  de- 
pendent clergy,  who  were  permitted  to  imitate  their 
master  in  the  gratification  of  every  sensual  appetite. 
For  Paul  indulged  himself  very  freely  in  the  pleasures 
of  the  table,  and  he  had  received  into  the  episcopal 
palace  two  young  and  beautiful  women,  as  the  constant 
companions  of  his  leisure  moments.''^ 

Notwithstanding  these  scandalous  vices,  if  Paul  of 
Samosata  had  preserved  the  purity  of  the  orthodox 
faith,  his  reign  over  the  capital  of  Syria  would  have 
ended  only  with  his  life  ;  and,  had  a  seasonable  perse- 
cution intervened,  an  effort  of  courage  might  perhaps 
have  placed  him  in  the  rank  of  saints  and  martyrs. 
Some  nice  and  subtle  errors,  which  he  imprudently 
adopted  and  obstinately  maintained,  concerning  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  excited  the  zeal  and  indigna- 
tion of  the  eastern  churches.*"*  From  Egypt  to  the 
Euxine  sea,  the  bishops  were  in  arms  and  in  motion. 

'2  Simony  was  not  unknown  in  those  times ;  and  the  clergy 
sometimes  bought  what  they  intended  to  sell.  It  appears  that 
the  bishopric  of  Carthage  was  purchased  by  a  wealthy  matron, 
named  Lucilla,  for  her  servant  Majorinus.  The  price  was  400 
Folles.  Every  Follis  contained  125  pieces  of  silver,  and  the 
whole  sum  may  be  computed  at  about  ^2400. 

"3  If  vi'e  are  desirous  of  extenuating  the  vices  of  Paul,  we 
must  suspect  the  assembled  bishops  of  the  East  of  publishing 
the  most  malicious  calumnies  in  circular  epistles  addressed  to 
all  the  churches  of  the  empire. 

7-1  His  heresy  (like  those  of  Noetus  and  Sabellius,  in  the  same 
century)  tended  to  confound  the  mysterious  distinction  of  the 
divine  persons. 


253-60         OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  133 

Several  councils  were  held,  confutations  were  pub- 
lished, excommunications  were  pronounced,  ambiguous 
explanations  were  by  turns  accepted  and  refused, 
treaties  were  concluded  and  violated,  and,  at  length, 
Paul  of  Samosata  was  degraded  from  his  episcopal 
character,  by  the  sentence  of  seventy  or  eighty  bishops, 
who  assembled  for  that  purpose  at  Antioch,  and  who, 
without  consulting  the  rights  of  the  clergy  or  people, 
appointed  a  successor  by  their  own  authority.  The 
manifest  irregularity  of  this  proceeding  increased  the 
numbers  of  the  discontented  faction  ;  and  as  Paul,  who 
was  no  stranger  to  the  arts  of  courts,  had  insinuated 
himself  into  the  favour  of  Zenobia,  he  maintained 
above  four  years  the  possession  of  the  episcopal  house 
and  office.  The  victory  of  Aurelian  changed  the  face 
of  the  East,  and  the  two  contending  parties,  who 
applied  to  each  other  the  epithets  of  schism  and 
heresy,  were  either  commanded  or  permitted  to  plead 
their  cause  before  the  tribunal  of  the  conqueror.  This 
public  and  very  singular  trial  affords  a  convincing 
proof  that  the  existence,  the  property,  the  privileges, 
and  the  internal  policy  of  the  Christians  were  acknow- 
ledged, if  not  by  the  laws,  at  least  by  the  magistrates, 
of  the  empire.  As  a  Pagan  and  as  a  soldier,  it  could 
scarcely  be  expected  that  Aurelian  should  enter  into 
the  discussion,  whether  the  sentiments  of  Paul  or 
those  of  his  adversaries  were  most  agreeable  to  the 
true  standard  of  the  orthodox  faith.  His  determina- 
tion, however,  was  founded  on  the  general  principles 
of  equity  and  reason.  He  considered  the  bishops  of 
Italy  as  the  most  impartial  and  respectable  judges 
among  the  Christians,  and,  as  soon  as  he  was  informed 
that  they  had  unanimously  approved  the  sentence  of 
the  council,  he  acquiesced  in  their  opinion,  and  im- 
mediately gave  orders  that  Paul  should  be  compelled 
to  relinquish  the  temporal  possessions  belonging  to  an 
office  of  which,  in  the  judgment  of  his  brethren,  he 
had  been  regularly  deprived.  But,  while  we  applaud 
the  justice,  we  should  not  overlook  the  policy,  of 
Aurelian  ;  who  was  desirous  of  restoring  and  cement- 


134  THE   DECLINE  AND   FALL  a.d. 

ing  the  dependence  of  the  provinces  on  the  capital 
by  every  means  which  could  bind  the  interest  or  pre- 
judices of  any  part  of  his  subjects. 

Amidst  the  frequent  revolutions  of  the  empire^  the 
Christians  still  flourished  in  peace  and  prosperity  ; 
and,  notwithstanding  a  celebrated  aera  of  martyrs  has 
been  deduced  from  the  accession  of  Diocletian,"^  the 
new  system  of  policy,  introduced  and  maintained  by 
the  wisdom  of  that  prince,  continued,  during  more 
than  eighteen  years,  to  breathe  the  mildest  and  most 
liberal  spirit  of  religious  toleration.  The  mind  of  Dio- 
cletian himself  was  less  adapted  indeed  to  speculative  in- 
quiries than  to  the  active  labours  of  war  and  government. 
His  prudence  rendered  him  averse  to  any  great  innova- 
tion, and,  though  his  temper  was  not  very  susceptible 
of  zeal  or  enthusiasm,  he  al^vays  maintained  an  habitual 
regard  for  the  ancient  deities  of  the  empire.  But  the 
leisure  of  the  two  empresses,  of  his  wife  Prisca  and  of 
Valeria  his  daughter,  permitted  them  to  listen  with 
more  attention  and  respect  to  the  truths  of  Christianity, 
which  in  every  age  has  acknowledged  its  important 
obligations  to  female  devotion.  Tlie  principal  eunuchs, 
Lucian  and  Dorotheus,  Gorgonius  and  Andrew,  who 
attended  the  person,  possessed  the  favour,  and  governed 
the  household  of  Diocletian,  protected  by  their  power- 
ful influence  the  faith  which  they  had  embraced.  Their 
example  was  imitated  by  many  of  the  most  considerable 
officers  of  the  palace,  who,  in  their  respective  stations, 
had  the  care  of  the  Imperial  ornaments,  of  the  robes, 
of  the  furniture,  of  the  jewels,  and  even  of  the  private 
treasury  ;  and,  though  it  might  sometimes  be  incumbent 
on  them  to  accompany  the  emperor  when  he  sacrificed 
in  the  temple,  they  enjoyed,  with  their  wives,  their 
children,  and  their  slaves,  the  free  exercise  of  the 
Christian  religion.  Diocletian  and  his  colleagues 
frequently  conferred  the  most  important   oflices   on 

75  The  aera  of  Martyrs,  which  is  still  in  use  among  the 
Copts  and  the  Abyssinians,  must  be  reckoned  from  the  29th 
of  August,  A.D,  284;  as  the  beginning  of  the  Egyptian  year 
was  nineteen  days  earlier  than  the  real  accession  of  Diocletian. 


270-74         OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  135 

those  persons  who  avowed  their  abhorrence  for  the 
worship  of  the  gods^  but  who  had  displayed  abilities 
proper  for  the  service  of  the  state.  The  bishops  held 
an  honourable  rank  in  their  respective  provinces^  and 
were  treated  with  distinction  and  respect,  not  only  by 
the  people,  but  by  the  magistrates  themselves.  Almost 
in  every  city,  the  ancient  churches  were  found  insuffi- 
cient to  contain  the  increasing  multitude  of  proselytes  ; 
and  in  their  place  more  stately  and  capacious  edifices 
were  erected  for  the  public  worship  of  the  faithful. 
(The  corruption  of  manners  and  principles,  so  forcibly 
lamented  by  Eusebius,  may  be  considered,  not  only 
as  a  consequence,  but  as  a  proof,  of  the  liberty  which 
the  Christians  enjoyed  and  abused  under  the  reign 
of  Diocletian.J[  Prosperity  had  relaxed  the  nerves 
of  discipline.  jJFraud,  envy,  and  malice  prevailed  in 
every  congregation^  The  presbyters  aspired  to  the 
episcopal  office,  ivhich  every  day  became  an  object 
more  worthy  of  their  ambition.  Tlie  bishops,  who 
contended  with  each  other  for  ecclesiastical  pre-emi- 
nence, appeared  by  their  conduct  to  claim  a  secular 
and  tyrannical  power  in  the  church  ;  and  the  lively 
faith  which  still  distinguished  the  Christians  from  the 
Gentiles  was  shown  much  less  in  their  lives  than  in 
their  controversial  writings. 

Notwithstanding  this  seeming  security,  an  attentive 
observer  might  discern  some  symptoms  that  threatened 
the  church  with  a  more  violent  persecution  than  any 
which  she  had  yet  endured.  Tlie  zeal  and  rapid  pro- 
gress of  the  Christians  awakened  the  Polytheists  from 
their  supine  indiiference  in  the  cause  of  those  deities 
whom  custom  and  education  had  taught  them  to  revere. 
The  mutual  provocations  of  a  religious  war,  which 
had  already  continued  above  two  hundred  years,  ex- 
asperated the  animosity  of  the  contending  parties. 
The  Pagans  were  incensed  at  the  rashness  of  a  recent 
and  obscure  sect  which  presumed  to  accuse  their 
countrymen  of  error  and  to  devote  their  ancestors  to 
eternal  misery.  The  habits  of  justifying  the  popular 
mythology    against   the   invectives   of   an   implacable 


136  THE  DECLINE  AND  FALL  a.d. 

enemy  produced  in  their  minds  some  sentiments  of 
faith  and  reverence  for  a  system  which  they  had  been 
accustomed  to  consider  with  the  most  careless  levity. 
The  supernatural  powers  assumed  by  the  church  in- 
spired at  the  same  time  terror  and  emulation.  The 
followers  of  the  established  religion  intrenched  them- 
selves behind  a  similar  fortification  of  prodigies ;  in- 
vented new  modes  of  sacrifice,  of  expiation,  and  of 
initiation  ;  ''^  attempted  to  revive  the  credit  of  their 
expiring  oracles  ;  ''^  and  listened  with  eager  credulity 
to  every  impostor  who  flattered  their  prejudices  by  a 
tale  of  wonders."^  Both  parties  seemed  to  acknowledge 
the  truth  of  those  miracles  which  were  claimed  by 
their  adversaries  ;  and,  while  they  were  contented  with 
ascribing  them  to  the  arts  of  magic  and  to  the  power 
of  daemons,  they  mutually  concurred  in  restoring  and 
establishing  the  reign  of  superstition."^  Philosophy, 
her  most  dangerous  enemy,  was  now  converted  into 
her  most  useful  ally.  The  groves  of  the  academy, 
the  gardens  of  Epicurus,  and  even  the  portico  of  the 

7^6  We  might  quote,  among  a  great  number  of  instances,  the 
mysterious  worship  of  Mithras,  and  the  Taurobolia ;  the  latter 
of  which  became  fashionable  in  the  time  of  the  Antonines  (see 
a  Dissertation  of  M.  de  Boze,  in  the  Mdmoires  de  I'Acaddmie 
des  Inscriptions,  torn.  ii.  p.  443).  The  romance  of  Apuleius  is 
as  full  of  devotion  as  of  satire. 

■^  The  impostor  Alexander  very  strongly  recommended  the 
oracle  of  Trophonius  at  Mallos,  and  those  of  Apollo  at  Claros 
and  Miletus.  The  last  of  these,  whose  singular  history  would 
furnish  a  very  curious  episode,  was  consulted  by  Diocletian 
before  he  published  his  edicts  of  persecution. 

'^s  Besides  the  ancient  stories  of  Pythagoras  and  Aristeas, 
the  cures  performed  at  the  shrine  of  .^sculapius  and  the  fables 
related  of  ApoUonius  of  Tyana  were  frequently  opposed  to  the 
miracles  of  Christ ;  though  I  agree  with  Dr.  Lardner  that, 
when  Philostratus  composed  the  life  of  ApoUonius,  he  had  no 
sUch  intention. 

"5  It  is  seriously  to  be  lamented  that  the  Christian  fathers, 
by  acknowledging  the  supernatural  or,  as  they  deem  it,  the 
infernal  part  of  Paganism,  destroy  with  their  own  hands  the 
great  advantage  which  we  might  otherwise  derive  from  the 
liberal  concessions  of  our  adversaries. 


284-393       OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  137 

Stoics,  were  almost  deserted,  as  so  many  different 
schools  of  scepticism  or  impiety  ;  ^°  and  many  among 
the  Romans  were  desirous  that  the  writing's  of  Cicero 
should  be  condemned  and  suppressed  by  the  authority 
of  the  senate.  ITie  prevailing  sect  of  the  new 
Platonicians  judged  it  prudent  to  connect  themselves 
with  the  priests,  whom  perhaps  they  despised,  against 
the  Christians,  whom  they  had  reason  to  fear.  These 
fashionable  philosophers  prosecuted  the  design  of  ex- 
tracting allegorical  wisdom  from  the  fictions  of  the 
Greek  poets  ;  instituted  mysterious  rites  of  devotion 
for  the  use  of  their  chosen  disciples  ;  recommended 
the  worship  of  the  ancient  gods  as  the  emblems  or 
ministers  of  the  Supreme  Deity,  and  composed  against 
the  faith  of  the  Gospel  many  elaborate  treatises,^^ 
which  have  since  been  committed  to  the  flames  by  the 
prudence  of  orthodox  emperors. 

Although  the  policy  of  Diocletian  and  the  humanity 
of  Constantius  inclined  them  to  preserv^e  inviolate  the 
maxims  of  toleration,  it  was  soon  discovered  that  their 
two  associates  Maximian  and  Galerius  entertained  the 
most  implacable  aversion  for  the  name  and  religion  of 
the  Christians.  The  minds  of  those  princes  had  never 
been  enlightened  by  science ;  education  had  never 
softened  their  temper.  Tliey  owed  their  greatness  to 
their  swords,  and  in  their  most  elevated  fortune  they 
still  retained  their  superstitious  prejudices  of  soldiers 
and  peasants.  In  the  general  administration  of  the 
provinces  they  obeyed  the  laws  which  their  benefactor 
had  established  ;  but  they  frequently  found  occasions 
of  exercising  within  their  camp  and  palaces  a  secret 

30  Julian  expresses  a  pious  joy  that  the  providence  of  the 
gods  had  extinguished  the  impious  sects,  and  for  the  most 
part  destroyed  the  books  of  the  Pyrrhonians  and  Epicureans, 
which  had  been  very  numerous,  since  Epicurus  himself  com- 
posed no  less  than  300  volumes, 

SI  Lactantius  (Divin,  Institut.  1.  v.  c.  2,  3)  gives  a  very  clear 
and  spirited  account  of  two  of  these  philosophic  adversaries  of 
the  faith.  The  large  treatise  of  Porphyry  against  the  Christians 
consisted  of  thirty  books,  and  was  composed  in  Sicily  about 
the  year  270. 

VOL.  II.  B  2 


138  THE  DECLINE   AND   FALL 

persecution/^  for  which  the  imprudent  zeal  of  the 
Christians  sometimes  offered  the  most  specious  pre- 
tences. A  sentence  of  death  was  executed  upon 
Maximilianus,  an  African  youth,  who  had  been  pro- 
duced by  his  own  father  before  the  magistrate  as  a 
sufficient  and  legal  recruit^butwho  obstinately  persisted 
in  declaring-  that  his  conscience  would  not  permit  him 
to  embrace  the  profession  of  a  soldier.^^  It  could 
scarcely  be  expected  that  any  government  should  suffer 
the  action  of  Marcellus  the  centurion  to  pass  with 
impunity.  On  the  day  of  a  public  festival,  that  officer 
threw  away  his  belt,  his  arms,  and  the  ensigns  of  his 
office,  and  exclaimed  with  a  loud  voice  that  he  would 
obey  none  but  Jesus  Christ  the  eternal  King,  and  that  he 
renounced  for  ever  the  use  of  carnal  weapons  and  the 
service  of  an  idolatrous  master.  The  soldiers,  as  soon 
as  they  recovered  from  their  astonishment,  secured 
the  person  of  Marcellus.  He  was  examined  in  the 
city  of  Tingi  by  the  president  of  that  part  of  Mauritania ; 
and,  as  he  was  convicted  by  his  own  confession,  he 
was  condemned  and  beheaded  for  the  crime  of  desertion. 
Examples  of  such  a  nature  savour  much  less  of  religious 
persecution  than  of  martial  or  even  civil  law  :  but  they 
served  to  alienate  the  mind  of  the  emperors,  to  justify 
the  severity  of  Galerius,  who  dismissed  a  great  number 
of  Christian  officers  from  their  employments,  and  to 

82  Eusebius,  1.  viii.  c.  4.  c.  17.  He  limits  the  number  of 
military  martyrs  by  a  remarkable  expression  (cnrav^wj  tovtuu 
eh  irov  Kal  Sevrepos),  of  which  neither  his  Latin  nor  French 
translations  have  rendered  the  energy.  Notwithstanding  the 
authority  of  Eusebius,  and  the  silence  of  Lactantius,  Ambrose, 
Sulpicius,  Orosius,  &c.  it  has  been  long  believed  that  the 
Theb^an  legion,  consisting  of  6000  Christians,  suffered  martyr- 
dom, by  the  order  of  Maximian,  in  the  valley  of  the  Pennine 
Alps.  The  story  was  first  published  about  the  middle  of  the 
fifth  century  by  Eucherius,  bishop  of  Lyons,  who  received  it 
from  certain  persons,  who  received  it  from  Isaac,  bishop  of 
Geneva,  who  is  said  to  have  received  it  from  Theodore,  bishop 
of  Octodurum.  The  abbey  of  St.  Maurice  still  subsists,  a  rich 
monument  of  the  credulity  of  Sigismund,  king  of  Burgundy. 

83  The  accounts  of  his  martyrdom  and  of  that  of  Marcellus 
bear  every  mark  of  truth  and  authenticity. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  139 

authorise  the  opinion  that  a  sect  of  enthusiasts  which 
avowed  principles  so  repug-nant  to  the  public  safety- 
must  either  remain  useless,  or  would  soon  become 
dangerous,  subjects  of  the  empire. 

After  the  success  of  the  Persian  war  had  raised  the 
hopes  and  the  reputation  of  Galerius,  he  passed  a  winter 
with  Diocletian  in  the  palace  of  Nicomedia  ;  and  the 
fate  of  Christianity  became  the  object  of  their  secret 
consultations.^'*  The  experienced  emperor  was  still 
inclined  to  pursue  measures  of  lenity  ;  and,  though  he 
readily  consented  to  exclude  the  Christians  from  hold- 
ing any  employments  in  the  household  or  the  army, 
lie  urged  in  the  strongest  terms  the  danger  as  well  as 
cruelty  of  shedding  the  blood  of  those  deluded  fanatics. 
Galerius  at  length  extorted  from  him  the  permission 
of  summoning  a  council,  composed  of  a  few  persons 
the  most  distinguished  in  the  civil  and  military  depart- 
ments of  the  state.  The  important  question  was  agi- 
tated in  their  presence,  and  those  ambitious  courtiers 
easily  discerned  that  it  was  incumbent  on  them  to 
second,  by  their  eloquence,  the  importunate  violence 
of  the  Caesar.  It  may  be  presumed  that  they  insisted 
on  every  topic  which  might  interest  the  pride,  the 
piety,  or  the  fears,  of  their  sovereign  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  Christianity.  Perhaps  they  represented  that 
the  glorious  work  of  the  deliverance  of  the  empire  was 
left  imperfect,  as  long  as  an  independent  people  was 
permitted  to  subsist  and  multiply  in  the  heart  of  the 
provinces.  The  Christians  (it  might  speciously  be 
alleged),  renouncing  the  gods  and  the  institutions  of 
Rome,  had  constituted  a  distinct  republic,  whicli  might 
yet  be  suppressed  before  it  had  acquired  any  military 
force ;  but  which  was  already  governed  by  its  own 
laws  and  magistrates,  was  possessed  of  a  public  treasure, 
and  was  intimately  connected  in  all  its  parts  by  the 
frequent  assemblies  of  the  bishops,  to  whose  decrees 

84  Lactantius  (or  whoever  was  the  author  of  this  little  treatise) 
was,  at  that  time,  an  inhabitant  of  Nicomedia  ;  but  it  seems 
difficult  to  conceive  how  he  could  acquire  so  accurate  a  know- 
ledge of  what  passed  in  the  Imperial  cabinet. 


140  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

their  numerous  and  opulent  congregations  yielded  an 
implicit  obedience.  Arguments  like  these  may  seem 
to  have  determined  the  reluctant  mind  of  Diocletian 
to  embrace  a  new  system  of  persecution  :  but^  though 
we  may  suspect,  it  is  not  in  our  power  to  relate,  the 
secret  intrigues  of  the  palace,  the  private  views  and 
resentments,  the  jealousy  of  women  or  eunuchs,  and 
all  those  trifling  but  decisive  causes  which  so  often 
influence  the  fate  of  empires  and  the  councils  of  the 
wisest  monarchs.®^ 

The  pleasure  of  the  emperors  was  at  length  signified 
to  the  Christians,  who,  during  the  course  of  this 
melancholy  winter,  had  expected,  with  anxiety,  the 
result  of  so  many  secret  consultations.  Tlie  twenty- 
third  of  February,  which  coincided  with  the  Roman 
festival  of  the  Terminalia,  was  appointed  (whether 
from  accident  or  design)  to  set  bounds  to  the  progress 
of  Christianity.  At  the  earliest  dawn  of  day,  the 
Praetorian  praefect,^^  accompanied  by  several  generals, 
tribunes,  and  officers  of  the  revenue,  repaired  to  the 
principal  church  of  Nicomedia,  which  was  situated  on 
an  eminence  in  the  most  populous  and  beautiful  part 
of  the  city.  The  doors  was  instantly  broken  open  ; 
they  rushed  into  the  sanctuary  ;  and,  as  they  searched 
in  vain  for  some  visible  object  of  worship,  they  were 
obliged  to  content  themselves  with  committing  to  the 
flames  the  volumes  of  holy  scripture.  The  ministers 
of  Diocletian  were  followed  by  a  numerous  body  of 
guards  and  pioneers,  who  marched  in  order  of  battle, 
and  were  provided  with  all  the  instruments  used  in 
the  destruction  of  fortified  cities.     By  their  incessant 

85  The  only  circumstance  which  we  can  discover  is  the  devo- 
tion and  jealousy  of  the  mother  of  Galerius.  She  is  described 
by  Lactantius  as  Deorum  montium  cultrix ;  mulier  admodum 
superstitiosa.  She  had  a  great  influence  over  her  son,  and  was 
offended  by  the  disregard  of  some  of  her  Christian  servants. 

8«  In  our  only  MS.  of  Lactantius,  we  read  profectus ;  but 
reason  and  the  authority  of  all  the  critics  allow  us,  instead  of 
that  word,  which  destroys  the  sense  of  the  passage,  to  substitute 
prafectus. 


303  OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  141 

labour,  a  sacred  edifice,  which  towered  above  the  Im- 
perial palace,  and  had  long  excited  the  indignation 
and  envy  of  the  Gentiles,  was  in  a  few  hours  levelled 
with  the  ground. 

The  next  day  the  general  edict  of  persecution  was 
published ;  and,  though  Diocletian,  still  averse  to 
the  effusion  of  blood,  had  moderated  the  fury  of 
Galerius,  who  proposed  that  every  one  refusing  to  offer 
sacrifice  should  immediately  be  burnt  alive,  the  penalties 
inflicted  on  the  osbtinacy  of  the  Christians  might  be 
deemed  sufficiently  rigorous  and  effectual.  It  was 
enacted  that  their  churches,  in  all  the  provinces  of 
the  empire,  should  be  demolished  to  their  foundations  ; 
and  the  punishment  of  death  was  denounced  against 
all  who  should  presume  to  hold  any  secret  assemblies 
for  the  purpose  of  religious  worship.  The  philosophers, 
who  now  assumed  the  unworthy  office  of  directing  the 
blind  zeal  of  persecution,  had  diligently  studied  the 
nature  and  genius  of  the  Christian  religion  ;  and,  as 
they  were  not  ignorant  that  the  speculative  doctrines 
of  the  faith  were  supposed  to  be  contained  in  the 
writings  of  the  prophets,  of  the  evangelists,  and  of  the 
apostles,  they  most  probably  suggested  the  order  that 
the  bishops  and  presbyters  should  deliver  all  their 
sacred  books  into  the  hands  of  the  magistrates  ;  who 
were  commanded,  under  the  severest  penalties,  to  burn 
them  in  a  public  and  solemn  manner.  By  the  same 
edict,  the  property  of  the  church  was  at  once  con- 
fiscated ;  and  the  several  parts  of  which  it  might  con- 
sist were  either  sold  to  the  highest  bidder,  united 
to  the  Imperial  domain,  bestowed  on  the  cities  and 
corporations,  or  granted  to  the  solicitations  of  rapacious 
courtiers.  After  taking  such  effectual  measures  to 
abolish  the  worship,  and  to  dissolve  the  government 
of  the  Christians,  it  was  thought  necessary  to  subject 
to  the  most  intolerable  hardships  the  condition  of 
those  perverse  individuals  who  should  still  reject  the 
religion  of  Nature,  of  Rome,  and  of  their  ancestors. 
Persons  of  a  liberal  birth  were  declared  incapable  of 
holding  any  honours   or   employments ;    slaves  were 


142  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

for  ever  deprived  of  the  hopes  of  freedom,  and  the 
whole  body  of  the  people  were  put  out  of  the  protec- 
tion of  the  law.  The  judges  were  authorised  to  hear 
and  to  determine  every  action  that  was  brought  against 
a  Christian.  But  the  Christians  were  not  permitted  to 
complain  of  any  injury  which  they  themselves  had 
suffered  ;  and  thus  those  unfortunate  sectaries  were 
exposed  to  the  severity,  while  they  were  excluded  from 
the  benefits,  of  public  justice.  This  new  species  of 
martyrdom,  so  painful  and  lingering,  so  obscure  and 
ignominious,  was,  perhaps,  the  most  proper  to  weary 
the  constancy  of  the  faithful ;  nor  can  it  be  doubted 
that  the  passions  and  interest  of  mankind  were  disposed 
on  this  occasion  to  second  the  designs  of  the  emperors. 
But  the  policy  of  a  well-ordered  government  must 
sometimes  have  interposed  on  behalf  of  the  oppressed 
Christians ;  nor  was  it  possible  for  the  Roman  princes 
entirely  to  remove  the  apprehension  of  punishment, 
or  to  connive  at  every  act  of  fraud  and  violence,  with- 
out exposing  their  own  authority  and  the  rest  of  their 
subjects  to  the  most  alarming  dangers. ^^ 

This  edict  was  scarcely  exhibited  to  the  public  view, 
in  the  most  conspicuous  place  of  Nicomedia,  before  it 
was  torn  down  by  the  hands  of  a  Christian,  who  ex- 
pressed, at  the  same  time,  by  the  bitterest  invectives, 
his  contempt  as  well  as  abhorrence  for  such  impious 
and  tyrannical  governors.  His  offence,  according  to 
the  mildest  laws,  amounted  to  treason,  and  deserved 
death.  And,  if  it  be  true  that  he  was  a  person  of  rank 
and  education,  those  circumstances  could  serve  only 
to  aggravate  his  guilt.  He  was  burnt,  or  rather 
roasted,  by  a  slow  fire  ;  and  his  executioners,  zealous 
to  revenge  the  personal  insult  which^  had  been  offered 
to  the  emperors,  exhausted  every  refinement  of  cruelty, 
without  being  able  to  subdue  his  patience,  or  to  alter 
the  steady  and  insulting  smile  which,  in  his  dying 
agonies  he  still  preserved  in  his  countenance.     The 

87  Many  ages  afterwards,  Edward  I.  practised  with  great 
success  the  same  mode  of  persecution  against  the  clergy  of 
England. 


303  OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  143 

Christians,  though  they  confessed  that  his  conduct 
had  not  been  strictly  conformable  to  the  laws  of 
prudence,  admired  the  divine  fervour  of  his  zeal ;  and 
the  excessive  commendations  which  they  lavished  on 
the  memory  of  their  hero  and  martyr  contributed  to 
fix  a  deep  impression  of  terror  and  hatred  in  the  mind 
of  Diocletian. 

His  fears  were  soon  alarmed  by  the  view  of  a  danger 
from  which  he  very  narrowly  escaped.  Within  fifteen 
days  the  palace  of  Nicomedia,  and  even  the  bed- 
chamber of  Diocletian,  were  twice  in  riames ;  and, 
though  both  times  they  were  extinguished  without  any 
material  damage,  the  singular  repetition  of  the  fire 
was  justly  considered  as  an  evident  proof  that  it  had 
not  been  the  effect  of  chance  or  negligence.  Tlie 
suspicion  naturally  fell  on  the  Christians  ;  and  it  was 
suggested,  with  some  degree  of  probability,  that  those 
desperate  fanatics,  provoked  by  their  present  sufferings 
and  apprehensive  of  impending  calamities,  had  entered 
into  a  conspiracy  with  their  faithful  brethren,  the 
eunuchs  of  the  palace,  against  the  lives  of  two  emperors, 
whom  they  detested  as  the  irreconcilable  enemies  of 
the  church  of  God.  Jealousy  and  resentment  prevailed 
in  every  breast,  but  especially  in  that  of  Diocletian. 
A  great  number  of  persons,  distinguished  either  by 
the  offices  which  they  had  filled  or  by  the  favour  which 
they  had  enjoyed,  were  thrown  into  prison.  Every 
mode  of  torture  was  put  in  practice,  and  the  court, 
as  well  as  city,  was  polluted  with  many  bloody  execu- 
tions. But,  as  it  was  found  impossible  to  extort 
any  discovery  of  this  mysterious  transaction,  it  seems 
incumbent  on  us  either  to  presume  the  innocence,  or 
to  admire  the  resolution,  of  the  sufferers.  A  few  days 
afterwards  Galerius  hastily  withdrew  himself  from 
Nicomedia,  declaring  that,  if  he  delayed  his  departure 
from  that  devoted  palace,  he  should  fall  a  sacrifice  to 
the  rage  of  the  Christians.  The  ecclesiastical  historians, 
from  whom  alone  we  derive  a  partial  and  imperfect 
knowledge  of  this  persecution,  are  at  a  loss  how  to 
account  for  the  fears  and  dangers  of  the   emperors. 


144  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

Two  of  these  writers,  a  Prince  and  a  Rhetorician, 
were  eye-witnesses  of  the  fire  of  Nicomedia.  The  one 
ascribes  it  to  lightning  and  the  divine  wrath ;  the 
other  affirms  that  it  was  kindled  by  the  malice  of 
Galerius  himself. 

As  the  edict  against  the  Christians  was  designed  for 
a  general  law  of  the  whole  empire,  and  as  Diocletian 
and  Galerius,  though  they  might  not  wait  for  the 
consent,  were  assured  of  the  concurrence,  of  the 
western  princes,  it  would  appear  more  consonant  to 
our  ideas  of  policy  that  the  governors  of  all  the  pro- 
vinces should  have  received  secret  instructions  to 
publish,  on  one  and  the  same  day,  this  declaration  of 
war  within  their  respective  departments.  It  was  at 
least  to  be  expected  that  the  convenience  of  the  public 
highways  and  established  posts  would  have  enabled 
the  emperors  to  transmit  their  orders  with  the  utmost 
despatch  from  the  palace  of  Nicomedia  to  the  extremities 
of  the  Roman  world  ;  and  that  they  would  not  have 
sufi'ered  fifty  days  to  elapse  before  the  edict  was 
published  in  Syria,  and  near  four  months  before  it 
was  signified  to  the  cities  of  Africa.  This  delay 
may  perhaps  be  imputed  to  the  cautious  temper  of 
Diocletian,  who  had  yielded  a  reluctant  consent  to  the 
measures  of  persecution,  and  who  was  desirous  of 
trying  the  experiment  under  his  more  immediate  eye, 
before  he  gave  why  to  the  disorders  and  discontent 
which  it  must  inevitablj'  occasion  in  the  distant  pro- 
vinces. At  first,  indeed,  the  magistrates  were  restrained 
from  the  efiusion  of  blood  ;  but  the  use  of  every  other 
severity  was  permitted  and  even  recommended  to  their 
zeal ;  nor  could  the  Christians,  though  they  cheerfully 
resigned  the  ornaments  of  their  churches,  resolve  to 
interrupt  their  religious  assemblies  or  to  deliver  their 
sacred  books  to  the  flames.  The  pious  obstinacy  of 
Felix,  an  African  bishop,  appears  to  have  embarrassed 
the  subordinate  ministers  of  the  government.  The 
curator  of  his  city  sent  him  in  chains  to  the  proconsul. 
The  proconsul  transmitted  him  to  the  Praetorian  pre- 
fect of  Italy ;  and  Felix,  who  disdained  even  to  give 


303  OF  THE   ROxMAN   EMPIRE  145 

an  evasive  answer,  was  at  length  beheaded  at  Venusia, 
in  Lucania,  a  place  on  which  the  birth  of  Horace  has 
conferred  fame.  This  precedent,  and  perhaps  some 
Imperial  rescript,  which  was  issued  in  consequence  of 
it,  appeared  to  authorise  the  g'overnors  of  provinces  in 
punishing  wdth  death  the  refusal  of  the  Christians  to 
deliver  up  their  sacred  books.  There  were  undoubtedly 
many  persons  who  embraced  this  opportunity  of  ob- 
taining the  crown  of  martyrdom  ;  but  there  were  like- 
wise too  many  who  purchased  an  ignominious  life  by 
discovering  and  betraying  the  holy  scripture  into  the 
hands  of  infidels.  A  great  number  even  of  bishops 
and  presbyters  acquired,  by  this  criminal  compliance, 
the  opprobrious  epithet  of  Traditors ;  and  their  offence 
was  productive  of  much  present  scandal,  and  of  much 
future  discord,  in  tlie  African  church. 

The  copies,  as  well  as  the  versions,  of  scripture  were 
already  so  multiplied  in  the  empire  that  the  most 
severe  inquisition  could  no  longer  be  attended  with 
any  fatal  consequences  ;  and  even  the  sacrifice  of  those 
volumes  which,  in  every  congregation,  were  preserved 
for  public  use  required  the  consent  of  some  treacherous 
and  unworthy  Christians.  But  the  ruin  of  the  churches 
was  easily  effected  by  the  authority  of  the  government 
and  by  the  labour  of  the  Pagans.  In  some  provinces, 
however,  the  magistrates  contented  themselves  with 
shutting  up  the  places  of  religious  worship.  In  others, 
they  more  literally  complied  with  the  tenns  of  the 
edict ;  and,  after  taking  away  the  doors,  the  benches, 
and  the  pulpit,  which  they  burnt,  as  it  were  in  a  funeral 
pile,  they  completely  demolished  the  remainder  of  the 
edifice. ^^      It  is  perhaps  to  this  melancholy  occasion 

88  The  ancient  monuments,  published  at  the  end  of  Optatus, 
p.  261,  &c.  describe,  in  a  very  circumstantial  manner,  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  governors  in  the  destruction  of  churches.  They 
made  a  minute  inventory  of  the  plate,  &c.  which  they  found  in 
them.  That  of  the  Church  of  Cirta,  in  Numidia,  is  still  extant. 
It  consisted  of  two  cnalices  of  gold,  and  six  of  silver ;  six  urns, 
one  kettle,  seven  lamps,  all  likewise  of  silver ;  besides  a  large 
quantity  of  brass  utensils,  and  wearing  apparel. 


146  THE   DECLINE    AND   FALL  a.d. 

that  we  should  apply  a  very  remarkable  story^  which 
is  related  with  so  many  circumstances  of  variety  and 
improbability  that  it  serves  rather  to  excite  than  to 
satisfy  our  curiosity.  In  a  small  town  in  Phryj^a,  of 
whose  name  as  well  as  situation  we  are  left  ignorant, 
it  should  seem  that  the  magistrates  and  the  body  of 
the  people  had  embraced  the  Christian  faith  ;  and,  as 
some  resistance  might  be  apprehended  to  the  execution 
of  the  edict,  the  governor  of  the  province  was  supported 
by  a  numerous  detachment  of  legionaries.  On  their 
approach  the  citizens  threw  themselves  into  the  church, 
with  the  resolution  either  of  defending  by  arms  that 
sacred  edifice  or  of  perishing  in  its  ruins.  They  in- 
dignantly rejected  the  notice  and  permission  which 
was  given  them  to  retire,  till  the  soldiers,  provoked 
by  their  obstinate  refusal,  set  fire  to  the  building  on 
ail  sides,  and  consumed,  by  this  extraordinary  kind  of 
martyrdom,  a  great  number  of  Phrygians,  with  their 
wives  and  children.^^ 

Some  slight  disturbances,  though  they  were  sup- 
pressed almost  as  soon  as  excited,  in  Syria  and  the 
frontiers  of  Armenia,  afforded  the  enemies  of  the 
church  a  very  plausible  occasion  to  insinuate  that 
those  troubles  had  been  secretly  fomented  by  the 
intrigues  of  the  bishops,  who  had  already  forgotten 
their  ostentatious  professions  of  passive  and  unlimited 
obedience.  The  resentment,  or  the  fears,  of  Diocletian 
at  length  transported  him  beyond  the  bounds  of 
moderation  which  he  had  hitherto  preserved,  and  he 
declared,  in  a  series  of  cruel  edicts,  his  intention  of 
abolishing  the  Christian  name.  By  the  first  of  these 
edicts,  the  governors  of  the  provinces  were  directed  to 

89  Lactantius  (Institut.  Divin.  v.  ii)  confines  the  calamity  to 
the  conve?iiiculum,  with  its  congregation.  Eusebius  (viii.  ii) 
extends  it  to  a  whole  city,  and  introduces  something  very  like  a 
regular  siege.  His  ancient  Latin  translator,  Rufinus,  adds  the 
irnportant  circumstance  of  the  permission  given  to  the  inhabi- 
tants of  retiring  from  thence.  As  Phrygia  reached  to  the 
confines  of  Isauria,  it  is  possible  that  the  restless  temper  of 
those  independent  Barbarians  may  have  contributed  to  this 
misfortune. 


303-4  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  147 

apprehend  all  persons  of  the  ecclesiastical  order  ;  and 
the  prisons,  destined  for  the  vilest  criminals,  were 
soon  filled  with  a  multitude  of  bishops,  presbyters, 
deacons,  readers,  and  exorcists.  By  a  second  edict, 
the  magistrates  were  commanded  to  employ  every 
method  of  severity  which  might  reclaim  them  from 
their  odious  superstition  and  oblige  them  to  return  to 
the  established  worship  of  the  gods.  This  rigorous 
order  was  extended  by  a  subsequent  edict  to  the  whole 
body  of  Christians,  who  were  exposed  to  a  violent 
and  general  persecution.  Instead  of  those  salutary 
restraints,  which  had  required  the  direct  and  solemn 
testimony  of  an  accuser,  it  became  the  duty  as  well 
as  the  interest  of  the  Imperial  officers  to  discover,  to 
pursue,  and  to  torment  the  most  obnoxious  among  the 
faithful.  Heavy  penalties  were  denounced  against  all 
who  should  presume  to  save  a  proscribed  sectary  from 
the  just  indignation  of  the  gods,  and  of  the  emperors. 
Yet,  notwithstanding  the  severity  of  this  law,  the 
virtuous  courage  of  many  of  the  Pagans,  in  concealing 
their  friends  or  relations,  affords  an  honourable  proof 
that  the  rage  of  superstition  had  not  extinguished  in 
their  minds  the  sentiments  of  nature  and  humanity. 

Diocletian  had  no  sooner  published  his  edicts  against 
the  Christians  than,  as  if  he  had  been  desirous  of 
committing  to  other  hands  the  work  of  persecution, 
he  divested  himself  of  the  Imperial  purple.  The  char- 
acter and  situation  of  his  colleagues  and  successors 
sometimes  urged  them  to  enforce,  and  sometimes  in- 
clined them  to  suspend  the  execution  of  these  rigorous 
laws  ;  nor  can  we  acquire  a  just  and  distinct  idea  of 
this  important  period  of  ecclesiastical  history,  unless 
we  separately  consider  the  state  of  Christianity,  in  the 
different  parts  of  the  empire,  during  the  space  of 
ten  years,  which  elapsed  between  the  first  edicts  of 
Diocletian  and  the  final  peace  of  the  church. 

The  mild  and  humane  temper  of  Constantius  was 
averse  to  the  oppression  of  any  part  of  his  subjects. 
The  principal  offices  of  his  palace  were  exercised  by 
Christians.     He  loved  their   persons,  esteemed   their 


148  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

fidelity,  and  entertained  not  any  dislike  to  their  re- 
ligious principles.  But,  as  long-  as  Constantius  re- 
mained in  the  subordinate  station  of  Csesar,  it  was 
not  in  his  power  openly  to  reject  the  edicts  of  Dio- 
cletian or  to  disobey  the  commands  of  Maximian.  His 
authority  contributed,  however,  to  alleviate  the  suffer- 
ings which  he  pitied  and  abhorred.  He  consented, 
with  reluctance,  to  the  ruin  of  the  churches  ;  but  he 
ventured  to  protect  the  Christians  themselves  from  the 
fury  of  the  populace  and  from  the  rigour  of  the  laws. 
The  provinces  of  Gaul  (under  which  we  may  probably 
include  those  of  Britain)  were  indebted  for  the  singular 
tranquillity  which  they  enjoyed  to  the  gentle  inter- 
position of  their  sovereign.  But  Datianus,  the  president 
or  governor  of  Spain,  actuated  either  by  zeal  or  policy, 
chose  rather  to  execute  the  public  edicts  of  the  emperors 
than  to  understand  the  secret  intentions  of  Constantius ; 
and  it  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  his  provincial 
administration  was  stained  with  the  blood  of  a  few 
martyrs.^  The  elevation  of  Constantius  to  the  supreme 
and  independent  dignity  of  Augustus  gave  a  free  scope 
to  the  exercise  of  his  virtues,  and  the  shortness  of  his 
reign  did  not  prevent  him  from  establishing  a  system 
of  toleration,  of  which  he  left  the  precept  and  the 
example  to  his  sou  Constantine.  His  fortunate  son, 
from  the  first  moment  of  his  accession  declaring  him- 
self the  protector  of  the  church,  at  length  deserved 
the  appellation  of  the  first  emperor  who  publicly  pro- 
fessed and  established  the  Christian  religion.  The 
motives  of  his  conversion,  as  they  may  variously  be 
deduced   from  benevolence,   from    policy,    from    con- 

w  Datianus  is  mentioned  in  Gruter's  Inscriptions,  as  having 
determined  the  limits  between  the  territories  of  Pax  Julia,  and 
those  of  Ebora,  both  cities  in  the  southern  part  of  Lusitania. 
If  we  recollect  the  neighbourhood  of  those  places  to  Cape  St. 
Vincent,  we  may  suspect  that  the  celebrated  deacon  and  martyr 
of  that  name  has  been  inaccurately  assigned  by  Prudentius,  &c. 
to  Saragossa,  or  Valencia.  Some  critics  are  of  opinion  that  the 
department  of  Constantius,  as  Caesar,  did  not  include  Spain, 
which  still  continued  under  the  immediate  jurisdiction  of 
Maximian. 


303-4  OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  149 

viction^  or  from  remorse  ;  and  the  progress  of  the 
revolution  which^  under  his  powerful  influence,  and 
that  of  his  sons,  rendered  Christianity  the  reigning 
religion  of  the  Roman  empire,  will  form  a  very 
interesting  and  important  chapter  in  the  second  volume 
of  this  history.  At  present  it  may  be  sufficient  to 
observe  that  every  victory  of  Constantine  was  pro- 
ductive of  some  relief  or  benefit  to  the  church. 

The  provinces  of  Italy  and  Africa  experienced  a 
short  but  violent  persecution.  The  rigorous  edicts  of 
Diocletian  were  strictly  and  cheerfully  executed  by  his 
associate  Maximian,  who  had  long  hated  the  Christians, 
and  who  delighted  in  acts  of  blood  and  violence.  In 
the  autumn  of  the  first  year  of  the  persecution,  the 
two  emperors  met  at  Rome  to  celebrate  their  triumph  ; 
several  oppressive  laws  appear  to  have  issued  from 
their  secret  consultations,  and  the  diligence  of  the 
magistrates  was  animated  by  the  presence  of  their 
sovereigns.  After  Diocletian  had  divested  himself  of 
the  purple,  Italy  and  Africa  were  administered  under 
the  name  of  Severus,  and  were  exposed,  without 
defence,  to  the  implacable  resentment  of  his  master 
Galerius.  Among  the  martyrs  of  Rome,  Adauctus 
deserves  the  notice  of  posterity.  He  was  of  a  noble 
family  in  Italy,  and  had  raised  himself,  through  the 
successive  honours  of  the  palace,  to  the  important  office 
of  treasurer  of  the  private  demesnes.  Adauctus  is  the 
more  remarkable  for  being  the  only  person  of  rank 
and  distinction  who  appears  to  have  suffered  death 
during  the  whole  course  of  this  general  persecution. 

The  revolt  of  Maxeutius  immediately  restored  peace 
to  the  churches  of  Italy  and  Africa ;  and  the  same 
tyrant  who  oppressed  every  other  class  of  his  subjects 
showed  himself  just,  humane,  and  even  partial,  towards 
the  afflicted  Christians.  He  depended  on  their  gra- 
titude and  affection,  and  very  naturally  presumed 
that  the  injuries  which  they  had  suffered,  and  the 
dangers  which  they  still  apprehended  from  his  most 
inveterate  enemy,  would  secure  the  fidelity  of  a  party 
already  considerable  by  their  numbers  and  opulence. 


160  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

Even  the  conduct  of  Maxentius  towards  the  bishops  of 
Rome  and  Carthage  may  be  considered  as  the  proof 
of  his  toleration,  since  it  is  probable  that  the  most 
orthodox  princes  would  adopt  the  same  measures  with 
regard  to  their  established  clergy.  Marcellus,  the 
former  of  those  prelates,  had  thrown  the  capital  into 
confusion  by  the  severe  penance  which  he  imposed  on 
a  great  number  of  Christians,  who,  during  the  late 
persecution,  had  renounced  or  dissembled  their  religion. 
The  rage  of  faction  broke  out  in  frequent  and  violent 
seditions  ;  the  blood  of  the  faithful  was  shed  by  each 
other's  hands ;  and  the  exile  of  Marcellus,  whose 
prudence  seems  to  have  been  less  eminent  than  his 
zeal,  was  found  to  be  the  only  measure  capable  of 
restoring  peace  to  the  distracted  church  of  Rome. 
The  behaviour  of  Mensurius,  bishop  of  Carthage, 
appears  to  have  been  still  more  reprehensible.  A 
deacon  of  that  city  had  published  a  libel  against  the 
emperor.  The  offender  took  refuge  in  the  episcopal 
palace  ;  and,  though  it  was  somewhat  early  to  advance 
any  claims  of  ecclesiastical  immunities,  the  bishop  re- 
fused to  deliver  him  up  to  the  officers  of  justice.  For 
this  treasonable  resistance,  Mensurius  was  summoned 
to  court,  and,  instead  of  receiving  a  legal  sentence  of 
death  or  banishment,  he  was  permitted,  after  a  short 
examination,  to  return  to  his  diocese.  Such  was  the 
happy  condition  of  the  Christian  subjects  of  Maxentius 
that,  whenever  they  were  desirous  of  procuring  for 
their  own  use  any  bodies  of  martyrs,  they  were  obliged 
to  purchase  them  from  the  most  distant  provinces  of 
the  East.  A  story  is  related  of  Aglae,  a  Roman  lady, 
descended  from  a  consular  family,  and  possessed  of  so 
ample  an  estate  that  it  required  the  management  of 
seventy-three  stewards.  Among  these,  Boniface  was 
the  favourite  of  his  mistress  ;  and,  as  Aglae  mixed  love 
with  devotion,  it  is  reported  that  he  was  admitted  to 
share  her  bed.  Her  fortune  enabled  her  to  gratify 
the  pious  desire  of  obtaining  some  sacred  relics  from 
the  East.  She  intrusted  Boniface  with  a  considerable 
sum  of  gold  and  a  large  quantity  of  aromatics  ;  and 


OF   THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  151 

her  lover,  attended  by  twelve  horsemen  and  three 
covered  chariots,  undertook  a  remote  pilgrimage,  as 
far  as  Tarsus  in  Cilicia. 

The  sanguinary  temper  of  Galerius,  the  first  and 
principal  author  of  the  persecution,  was  formidable  to 
those  Christians  whom  their  misfortunes  had  placed 
within  the  limits  of  his  dominions;  and  it  may  fairly 
be  presumed  that  many  persons  of  a  middle  rank,  who 
were  not  confined  by  the  chains  either  of  wealth  or 
of  poverty,  very  frequently  deserted  their  native 
country,  and  sought  a  refuge  in  the  milder  climate  of 
the  W^est.  As  long  as  he  commanded  only  the  armies 
and  provinces  of  lllyricum,  he  could  with  difficulty 
either  find  or  make  a  considerable  number  of  martyrs, 
in  a  warlike  country,  which  had  entertained  the 
missionaries  of  the  Gospel  with  more  coldness  and 
reluctance  than  any  other  part  of  the  empire.^^  But, 
when  Galerius  had  obtained  the  supreme  power  and 
the  government  of  the  East,  he  indulged  in  their 
fullest  extent  his  zeal  and  cruelty,  not  only  in  the 
provinces  of  Thrace  and  Asia,  which  acknowledged 
his  immediate  jurisdiction,  but  in  those  of  Syria, 
Palestine,  and  Eg^^pt,  where  Maximin  gratified  his 
own  inclination  by  yielding  a  rigorous  obedience  to 
the  stern  commands  of  his  benefactor.^  The  frequent 
disappointments  of  his  ambitious  views,  the  experience 
of  six  years  of  persecution,  and  the  salutary  reflections 
which  a  lingering  and  painful  distemper  suggested  to 
the  mind  of  Galerius,  at  length  convinced  him  that 
the  most  violent  efi"orts  of  despotism  are  insufficient  to 
extirpate  a  whole  people  or  to  subdue  their  religious 

91  During  the  four  first  centuries  there  exist  few  traces  of 
either  bishops  or  bishoprics  in  the  western  lllyricum.  It  has 
been  thought  probable  that  the  primate  of  Milan  extended  his 
jurisdiction  over  Sirmium,  the  capital  of  that  great  province. 

^  The  eighth  book  of  Eusebius,  as  well  as  the  supplement 
concerning  the  martyrs  of  Palestine,  principally  relate  to  the 
persecution  of  Galerius  and  Maximin.  The  general  lamenta- 
tions with  which  Lactantius  opens  the  fifth  book  of  his  Divine 
Institutions  allude  to  their  cruelty. 


152  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

prejudices.  Desirous  of  repairing-  the  mischief  that  he 
had  occasioned,  he  published  in  his  own  name,  and  in 
those  of  Licinius  and  Constantine,  a  general  edict, 
which,  after  a  pompous  recital  of  the  Imperial  titles, 
proceeded  in  the  following  manner  : 

*' Among  the  important  cares  which  have  occupied 
our  mind  for  the  utility  and  preservation  of  the 
empire,  it  was  our  intention  to  correct  and  re-establish 
all  things  according  to  the  ancient  laws  and  public 
discipline  of  the  Romans.  We  were  particularly  de- 
sirous of  reclaiming,  into  the  way  of  reason  and  nature, 
the  deluded  Christians,  who  had  renounced  the  religion 
and  ceremonies  instituted  by  their  fathers,  and,  j)re- 
sumptuously  despising  the  practice  of  antiquity,  had 
invented  extravagant  laws  and  opinions,  according  to 
the  dictates  of  their  fancy,  and  had  collected  a  various 
society  from  the  different  provinces  of  our  empire. 
The  edicts  which  we  have  published  to  enforce  the 
worship  of  the  gods,  having  exposed  many  of  the 
Christians  to  danger  and  distress,  many  having  suffered 
death,  and  many  more,  who  still  persist  in  their  impious 
folly,  being  left  destitute  of  any  public  exercise  of 
religion,  we  are  disposed  to  extend  to  those  unhappy 
men  the  effects  of  our  unwonted  clemency.  Wq 
permit  them,  therefore,  freely  to  profess  their  private 
opinions,  and  to  assemble  in  their  conventicles  without 
fear  or  molestation,  provided  always  that  they  preserve 
a  due  respect  to  the  established  laws  and  government. 
By  another  rescript  we  shall  signify  our  intentions  to 
the  judges  and  magistrates  ;  and  we  hope  that  our 
indulgence  will  engage  the  Christians  to  offer  up  their 
prayers  to  the  Deity  whom  they  adore,  for  our  safety 
and  prosperity,  for  their  own,  and  for  that  of  the 
republic."  It  is  not  usually  in  the  language  of  edicts 
and  manifestoes  that  we  should  search  for  the  real 
character  or  the  secret  motives  of  princes  ;  but,  as 
these  were  the  words  of  a  dying  emperor,  his  situation, 
perhaps,  may  be  admitted  as  a  pledge  of  his  sincerity. 

"When  Galerius  subscribed  this  edict  of  toleration, 
he  was  well  assured  that  Licinius  would  readily  comply 


311  OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  153 

with  the  inclinations  of  his  friend  and  benefactor^  and 
that  any  measures  in  favour  of  the  Christians  would 
obtain  the  approbation  of  Constantine.  But  the  em- 
peror would  not  venture  to  insert  in  the  preamble  the 
name  of  Maximin,  whose  consent  was  of  the  greatest 
importance,  and  who  succeeded  a  few  days  afterwards 
to  the  provinces  of  Asia,  In  the  first  six  months,  how- 
ever, of  his  new  reign,  Maximin  affected  to  adopt  the 
prudent  counsels  of  his  predecessor  ;  and,  though  he 
Dever  condescended  to  secure  the  tranquillity  of  the 
church  by  a  public  edict,  Sabinus,  his  Praetorian 
praefect,  addressed  a  circular  letter  to  all  the  gover- 
nors and  magistrates  of  the  provinces,  expatiating  on 
the  Imperial  clemency,  acknowledging  the  invincible 
obstinacy  of  the  Christians,  and  directing  the  officers 
of  justice  to  cease  their  ineffectual  prosecutions  and  to 
connive  at  the  secret  assemblies  of  those  enthusiasts. 
In  consequence  of  these  orders,  great  numbers  of 
Christians  were  released  from  prison  or  delivered  from 
the  mines.  The  confessors,  singing  hymns  of  triumph, 
returned  into  their  own  countries  ;  and  those  who  had 
yielded  to  the  violence  of  the  tempest  solicited  with 
tears  of  repentance  their  re-admission  into  the  bosom 
of  the  church. 

But  this  treacherous  calm  was  of  short  duration  ; 
nor  could  the  Christians  of  the  East  place  any  con- 
fidence in  the  character  of  their  sovereign.  Cruelty 
and  superstition  were  the  ruling  passions  of  the  soul 
of  Maximin.  The  former  suggested  the  means,  the 
latter  pointed  out  the  objects,  of  persecution.  Tlie 
emperor  was  devoted  to  the  worship  of  the  gods,  to 
the  study  of  magic,  and  to  the  belief  of  oracles.  The 
prophets  or  philosophers,  whom  he  revered  as  the 
favourites  of  heaven,  were  frequently  raised  to  the 
government  of  provinces  and  admitted  into  his  most 
secret  counsels.  They  easily  convinced  him  that  the 
Christians  had  been  indebted  for  their  victories  to 
their  regular  discipline,  and  that  the  weakness  of 
Polytheism  had  principally  flowed  from  a  want  of  union 
and  subordination  among  the  ministers  of  religion.     A 


154  THE   DECLINE  AND   FALL  a.d. 

system  of  government  was  therefore  instituted,  which 
was  evidently  copied  from  the  policy  of  the  church. 
In  all  the  great  cities  of  the  empire,  the  temples  were 
repaired  and  beautified  by  the  order  of  Maximin  ;  and 
the  officiating  priests  of  the  various  deities  were  sub- 
jected to  the  authority  of  a  superior  pontiff,  destined 
to  oppose  the  bishop  and  to  promote  the  cause  of 
Paganism.  These  pontiffs  acknowledged,  in  their  turn, 
the  supreme  jurisdiction  of  the  metropolitans  or  high 
priests  of  the  province,  who  acted  as  the  immediate 
vicegerents  of  the  emperor  himself.  A  white  robe  was 
the  ensign  of  their  dignity ;  and  these  new  prelates 
were  carefully  selected  from  the  most  noble  and  opulent 
families.  By  the  influence  of  the  magistrates  and  of 
the  sacerdotal  order,  a  great  number  of  dutiful  ad- 
dresses were  obtained,  particularly  from  the  cities  of 
Nicomedia,  Antioch,  and  Tyre,  which  artfully  repre- 
sented the  well-known  intentions  of  the  court  as  the 
general  sense  of  the  people ;  solicited  the  emperor  to 
consult  the  laws  of  justice  rather  than  the  dictates  of 
his  clemency  ;  expressed  their  abhorrence  of  the  Chris- 
tians ;  and  humbly  prayed  that  those  impious  sectaries 
might  at  least  be  excluded  from  the  limits  of  their 
respective  territories.  The  answer  of  Maximin  to  the 
address  which  he  obtained  from  the  citizens  of  Tyre 
is  still  extant.  He  praises  their  zeal  and  devotion 
in  terms  of  the  highest  satisfaction,  descants  on  the 
obstinate  impiety  of  the  Christians,  and  betrays,  by 
the  readiness  with  which  he  consents  to  their  banish- 
ment, that  he  considered  himself  as  receiving,  rather 
than  as  conferring,  an  obligation.  The  priests,  as  well 
as  the  magistrates,  were  empowered  to  enforce  the 
execution  of  his  edicts,  which  were  engraved  on  tables 
of  brass  ;  and,  though  it  was  recommended  to  them  to 
avoid  the  effusion  of  blood,  the  most  cruel  and  igno- 
minious punishments  were  inflicted  on  the  refractory 
Christians. 

The  Asiatic  Christians  had  everything  to  dread  from 
the  severity  of  a  bigoted  monarch,  who  prepared  his 
measures  of  violence  with  such  deliberate  policy.     But 


312  OF  THE   ROMAxV  EMPIRE  155 

a  few  months  had  scarcely  elapsed  before  the  edicts 
published  bv  the  two  western  emperors  obliged  Maximin 
to  suspend  the  prosecution  of  his  designs  :  the  civil 
war,  which  he  so  rashly  undertook  against  Licinius, 
employed  all  his  attention  ;  and  the  defeat  and  death 
of  iVIaximin  soon  delivered  the  church  from  the  last 
and  most  implacable  of  her  enemies. ^^ 

In  this  general  view  of  the  persecution,  which  was 
first  authorised  by  the  edicts  of  Diocletian,  I  have  pur- 
posely refrained  from  describing  the  particular  sufferings 
and  deaths  of  the  Christian  martyrs.  It  would  have 
been  an  easy  task,  from  the  history  of  Eusebius,  from 
the  declamations  of  Lactantius,  and  from  the  most 
ancient  acts,  to  collect  a  long  series  of  horrid  and  dis- 
gustful pictures,  and  to  fill  many  pages  with  racks  and 
scourges,  with  iron  hooks,  and  red-hot  beds,  and  with 
all  the  variety  of  tortures  which  fire  and  steel,  savage 
beasts  and  more  savage  executioners,  could  indict  on 
the  human  body.  These  melancholy  scenes  might  be 
enlivened  by  a  crowd  of  visions  and  miracles  destined 
either  to  delay  the  death,  to  celebrate  the  triumph, 
or  to  discover  the  relics,  of  those  canonised  saints 
who  suffered  for  the  name  of  Christ.  But  I  cannot 
determine  what  I  ought  to  transcribe,  till  I  am  satisfied 
how  much  I  ought  to  believe.  The  gravest  of  the 
ecclesiastical  historians,  Eusebius  himself,  indirectly 
confesses  that  he  has  related  whatever  might  redound 
to  the  glory,  and  that  he  has  suppressed  all  that  could 
tend  to  the  disgrace,  of  religion. ^^     Such  an  acknow- 

93  A  few  days  before  his  death,  he  published  a  very  ample 
edict  of  toleration,  in  which  he  imputes  all  the  severities  which 
the  Christians  suffered  to  the  judges  and  governors,  who  had 
misunderstood  his  intentions. 

9^  Such  is  ihefair  deduction  from  two  remarkable  passages 
in  Eusebius,  1.  viii.  c.  2,  and  de  Martyr.  Palestin.  c.  12.  The 
prudence  of  the  historian  has  exposed  his  own  character  to 
censure  and  suspicion.  It  is  well  known  that  he  himself  had 
been  thrown  into  prison ;  and  it  was  suggested  that  he  had 
purchased  his  deliverance  by  some  dishonourable  compliance. 
The  reproach  was  urged  in  his  lifetime,  and  even  in  his.presence, 
at  the  council  of  Tvre. 


166  THE  DECLINE   AND  FALL 

ledgment  will  naturally  excite  a  suspicion  that  a  writer 
who  has  so  openly  violated  one  of  the  fundamental 
laws  of  history  has  not  paid  a  very  strict  reg-ard  to  the 
observance  of  the  other ;  and  the  suspicion  will  derive 
additional  credit  from  the  character  of  Eusebiua^  which 
was  less  tinctured  with  credulity,  and  more  practised 
in  the  arts  of  courts,  than  that  of  almost  any  of  his 
contemporaries.  On  some  particular  occasions,  when 
the  magfistrates  were  exasperated  by  some  personal 
motives  of  interest  or  resentment,  when  the  zeal  of  the 
martyrs  urged  them  to  forget  the  rules  of  prudence, 
and  perhaps  of  decency,  to  overturn  the  altars,  to  pour 
out  imprecations  against  the  emperors,  or  to  strike  the 
judge  as  he  sat  on  his  tribunal,  it  may  be  presumed 
that  every  mode  of  torture,  which  cruelty  could  invent 
or  constancy  could  endure,  was  exhausted  on  those 
devoted  victims.^^  Two  circumstances,  however,  have 
been  unwarily  mentioned,  which  insinuate  that  the 
general  treatment  of  the  Christians  who  had  been 
apprehended  by  the  officers  of  justice  was  less  intoler- 
able than  it  is  usually  imagined  to  have  been.  1.  The 
confessors  who  were  condemned  to  work  in  the  mines 
were  permitted,  by  the  humanity  or  the  negligence  of 
their  keepers,  to  build  chapels  and  freely  to  profess 
their  religion  in  the  midst  of  those  dreary  habitations. 
2.  The  bishops  were  obliged  to  check  and  to  censure 
the  forward  zeal  of  the  Christians,  who  voluntarily 
threw  themselves  into  the  hands  of  the  magistrates. 
Some  of  these  were  persons  oppressed  by  poverty  and 
debts,  who  blindly  sought  to  terminate  a  miserable 
existence  by  a  glorious  death.  Others  were  allured  by 
the  hope  that  a  short  confinement  would  expiate  the 
sins  of  a  whole  life  ;  and  others,  again,  were  actuated 
by  the  less  honourable  motive  of  deriving  a  plentiful 
subsistence,  and  perhaps  a  considerable  profit,  from  the 
alms  which  the  charity  of  the  faithful  bestowed  on  the 

85  The  ancient,  and  perhaps  authentic,  account  of  the  suffer- 
ings of  Tarachus  and  his  companions  is  filled  with  strong 
expressions  of  resentment  and  contempt,  which  could  not  fail 
of  irritating  the  magistrate. 


OF  THE   ROALIN  EMPIRE  157 

prisoners.^  After  the  church  had  triumphed  over  all 
her  enemies,  the  interest  as  well  as  vanity  of  the 
captives  prompted  them  to  magnify  the  merit  of  their 
respective  suffering.  A  convenient  distance  of  time 
or  place  gave  an  ample  scope  to  the  progress  of  fiction  ; 
and  the  frequent  instances  which  might  be  alleged  of 
holy  martyrs^  whose  wounds  had  been  instantly  healed, 
whose  strength  had  been  renewed,  and  whose  lost 
members  had  miraculously  been  restored,  were  ex- 
tremely convenient  for  the  purpose  of  removing  every 
difficulty  and  of  silencing  every  objection.  The  most 
extravagant  legends,  as  they  conduced  to  the  honour  of 
the  church,  were  applauded  by  the  credulous  multitude, 
countenanced  by  the  power  of  the  clergy,  and  attested 
by  the  suspicious  evidence  of  ecclesiastical  history. 

The  vague  descriptions  of  exile  and  imprisonment, 
of  pain  and  torture,  are  so  easily  exaggerated  or 
softened  by  the  pencil  of  an  artful  orator  that  we  are 
naturally  induced  to  inquire  into  a  fact  of  a  more 
distinct  and  stubborn  kind  ;  the  number  of  persons 
who  suffered  death,  in  consequence  of  the  edicts 
published  by  Diocletian,  his  associates,  and  his  suc- 
cessors. The  recent  legendaries  record  whole  armies 
and  cities,  which  were  at  once  swept  away  by  the  un- 
distinguishing  rage  of  persecution.  The  more  ancient 
writers  content  themselves  with  pouring  out  a  liberal 
effusion  of  loose  and  tragical  invectives,  without  con- 
descending to  ascertain  the  precise  number  of  those 
persons  who  were  permitted  to  seal  with  their  blood 
their  belief  of  the  i^rospel.  From  the  history  of  Eusebius, 
it  may  however  be  collected  that  only  nine  bishops 
were  punished  with  death  ;  and  we  are  assured,  by  his 
particular  enumeration  of  the  martyrs  of  Palestine, 
that  no  more  than  ninety-two  Christians  were  entitled 
to  thathonourableappellation.^"  As  we  are  unacquainted 

^  The  controversy  with  the  Donatists  has  reflected  some, 
though  perhaps  a  partial,  light  on  the  history  of  the  African 
church. 

^  Eusebius  de  Martyr.  Palestin.  c.  13.  He  closes  his  narra- 
tion by  assuring  us  thai  these  were  the  martyrdoms  inflicted  in 


168  THE  DECLINE   AND   FALL 

with  the  degree  of  episcopal  zeal  and  courage  which 
prevailed  at  that  time,  it  is  not  in  our  power  to  draw 
any  useful  inferences  from  the  former  of  these  facts  ; 
but  the  latter  may  serve  to  justify  a  very  important 
and  probable  conclusion.  According  to  the  distribution 
of  Roman  provinces,  Palestine  may  be  considered  as 
the  sixteenth  part  of  the  Eastern  empire  ;  ^^  and  since 
there  were  some  governors  who,  from  a  real  or  affected 
clemency,  had  preserved  their  hands  unstained  with 
the  blood  of  the  faithful,  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that 
the  country  which  had  given  birth  to  Christianity  pro- 
duced at  least  the  sixteenth  part  of  the  martyrs  who 
suffered  death  within  the  dominions  of  Galerius  and 
Maximin  ;  the  whole  might  consequently  amount  to 
about  fifteen  hundred  ;  a  number  which,  if  it  is  equally 
divided  between  the  ten  years  of  the  persecution,  will 
allow  an  annual  consumption  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 

Palestine  during  the  whole  course  of  the  persecution.  The  fifth 
chapter  of  his  eighth  book,  which  relates  to  the  province  of 
Thebais  in  Egypt,  may  seem  to  contradict  our  moderate  compu- 
tation ;  but  it  will  only  lead  us  to  admire  the  artful  management 
of  the  historian.  Choosing  for  the  scene  of  the  most  exquisite 
cruelty  the  most  remote  and  sequestered  country  of  the  Roman 
empire,  he  relates  that  in  Thebais  from  ten  to  one  hundred 
persons  had  frequently  suffered  martyrdom  in  the  same  day. 
But  when  he  proceeds  to  mention  his  own  journey  into  Egypt, 
his  language  insensibly  becomes  more  cautious  and  moderate. 
Instead  of  a  large,  but  definite  number,  he  speaks  of  many 
Christians  (TrXf^oys),  and  most  artfully  selects  two  ambiguous 
words  {i<TToprj<TaiJ.€v ,  and  virofxeivavTas),  which  may  signify 
either  what  he  had  seen  or  what  he  had  heard ;  either  the 
expectation  or  the  execution  of  the  punishment.  Having  thus 
provided  a  secure  evasion,  he  commits  the  equivocal  passage 
to  his  readers  and  translators ;  justly  conceiving  that  their  piety 
would  induce  them  to  prefer  the  most  favourable  sense.  There 
was  perhaps  some  malice  in  the  remark  of  Theodorus  Meto- 
chita,  that  all  who,  like  Eusebius,  had  been  conversant  with  the 
Egyptians  delighted  in  an  obscure  and  intricate  style. 

98  When  Palestine  was  divided  into  three,  the  praefecture  of 
the  East  contained  forty-eight  provinces.  As  the  ancient  dis- 
tinctions of  nations  were  long  since  abolished,  the  Romans  dis- 
tributed the  provinces  according  to  a  general  proportion  of  their 
extent  and  opulence. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  159 

martyrs.  Allotting  the  same  proportion  to  the  pro- 
vinces of  Italy,  Africa,  and  perhaps  Spain,  where,  at 
the  end  of  two  or  three  years,  the  rigour  of  the'penal 
laws  was  either  suspended  or  abolished,  the  multitude 
of  Christians  in  the  Roman  empire  on  whom  a  capital 
punishment  was  inflicted  by  a  judicial  sentence  will  be 
reduced  to  somewhat  less  than  two  thousand  persons. 
Since  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  Christians  were 
more  numerous,  and  their  enemies  more  exasperated, 
in  the  time  of  Diocletian,  than  they  had  ever  been  in 
any  former  persecution,  this  probable  and  moderate 
computation  may  teach  us  to  estimate  the  number  of 
primitive  saints  and  martyrs  who  sacrificed  their  lives 
for  the  important  purpose  of  introducing  Christianity 
into  the  world. 

We  shall  conclude  this  chapter  by  a  melancholy 
truth  which  obtrudes  itself  on  the  reluctant  mind  ; 
that  even  admitting,  without  hesitation  or  inquiry,  all 
that  history  has  recorded,  or  devotion  has  feigned,  on 
the  subject  of  martyrdoms,  it  must  still  be  acknow- 
ledged that  the  Christians,  in  the  course  of  their 
intestine  dissensions,  have  inflicted  far  greater  severities 
on  each  other  than  they  had  experienced  from  the  zeal 
of  infidels.  During  the  ages  of  ignorance  which  followed 
the  subversion  of  the  Roman  empire  in  the  West,  the 
bishops  of  the  Imperial  city  extended  their  dominion 
over  the  laity  as  well  as  clergy  of  the  Latin  church. 
The  fabric  of  superstition  which  they  had  erected,  and 
which  might  long  have  defied  the  feeble  efi'orts  of 
reason,  was  at  length  assaulted  by  a  crowd  of  daring 
fanatics,  who,  from  the  twelfth  to  the  sixteenth  century, 
assumed  the  popular  character  of  reformers.  The 
church  of  Rome  defended  by  violence  the  empire  which 
she  had  acquired  by  fraud  ;  a  system  of  peace  and 
benevolence  was  soon  disgraced  by  proscriptions,  wars, 
massacres,  and  the  institution  of  the  holy  office.  And, 
as  the  reformers  were  animated  by  the  love  of  civil,  as 
well  as  of  religious,  freedom,  the  Catholic  princes 
connected  their  own  interest  with  that  of  the  clergy, 
and  enforced  by  fire  and  the  sword   the  terrors   of 


160  THE  DECLINE  AND   FALL 

spiritual  censures.  In  the  Netherlands  alone,  more 
than  one  hundred  thousand  of  the  subjects  of  Charles 
the  Fifth  are  said  to  have  suffered  by  the  hand  of  the 
executioner  ;  and  this  extraordinary  numb6r  is  attested 
by  GrotiuSj  a  man  of  genius  and  learning,  who  pre- 
served his  moderation  amidst  the  fury  of  contending 
sects,  and  who  composed  the  annals  of  his  own  age 
and  country,  at  a  time  when  the  invention  of  printing 
had  facilitated  the  means  of  intelligence  and  increased 
the  danger  of  detection.  If  we  are  obliged  to  submit 
our  belief  to  the  authority  of  Grotius,  it  must  be 
allowed  that  the  number  of  Protestants  who  were 
executed  in  a  single  province  and  a  single  reign  far 
exceeded  that  of  the  primitive  martyrs  in  the  space  of 
three  centuries  and  of  the  Roman  empire.  But,  if 
the  improbability  of  the  fact  itself  should  prevail  over 
the  weight  of  evidence  ;  if  Grotius  should  be  convicted 
of  exaggerating  the  merit  and  sufferings  of  the  Re- 
formers ;^  we  shall  be  naturally  led  to  inquire  what 
confidence  can  be  placed  in  the  doubtful  and  imperfect 
monuments  of  ancient  credulity  ;  what  degree  of  credit 
can  be  assigned  to  a  courtly  bishop,  and  a  passionate 
declaimer,  who,  under  the  protection  of  Constantine, 
enjoyed  the  exclusive  privilege  of  recording  the  perse- 
cutions inflicted  on  the  Christians  by  the  vanquished 
rivals,  or  disregarded  predecessors  of  their  gracious 
sovereign. 

99  Fra  Paolo  (Istoria  del  Concilio  Tridentino,  1.  iii. )  reduces 
the  number  of  Belgic  martyrs  to  50,000.  In  learning  and 
moderation,  Fra  Paolo  was  not  inferior  to  Grotius.  The  priority 
of  time  gives  some  advantage  to  the  evidence  of  the  former, 
which  he  loses  on  the  other  hand  by  the  distance  of  Venice 
from  the  Netherlands. 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  161 


CHAPTER  XVII 

FOUNDATION  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE — POLITICAL  SYSTEM  OF 
CONSTANTINE,  AND  HIS  SUCCESSORS MILITARY  DIS- 
CIPLINE  THE    PALACE THE    FINANCES 

The  unfortunate  Licinius  was  the  last  rival  who  op- 
posed the  greatness^,  and  the  last  captive  who  adorned 
the  triumph^  of  Constantine.  After  a  tranquil  and 
prosperous  reign,  the  conqueror  bequeathed  to  his 
family  the  inheritance  of  the  Roman  empire  :  a  new 
capital,  a  new  policy,  and  a  new  religion  ;  and  the 
innovations  which  he  established  have  been  embraced 
and  consecrated  by  succeeding  generations.  The  age 
of  the  great  Constantine  and  his  sons  is  filled  with 
important  events  ;  but  the  historian  must  be  oppressed 
by  their  number  and  variety,  unless  he  diligently 
separates  from  each  other  the  scenes  which  are  con- 
nected only  by  the  order  of  time.  He  will  describe 
the  political  institutions  that  gave  strength  and  sta- 
bility to  the  empire,  before  he  proceeds  to  relate 
the  wars  and  revolutions  which  hastened  its  decline. 
He  will  adopt  the  division,  unknown  to  the  ancients, 
of  civil  and  ecclasiastical  affairs  :  the  victory  of  the 
Christians  and  their  intestine  discord  will  supply 
copious  and  distinct  materials  both  for  edification  and 
for  scandal. 

After  the  defeat  and  abdication  of  Licinius,  his  vic- 
torious rival  proceeded  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  city 
destined  to  reign  in  future  times  the  mistress  of  the 
East,  and  to  survive  the  empire  and  religion  of  Con- 
stantine. The  motives,  whether  of  pride  or  of  policy, 
which  first  induced  Diocletian  to  withdraw  himself 
from  the  ancient  seat  of  government,   had  acquired 

VOL.  IL  Y 


162  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

additional  weight  by  the  example  of  his  successors  and 
the  habits  of  forty  years.  Rome  was  insensibly  con- 
founded with  the  dependent  kingdoms  which  had  once 
acknowledged  her  supremacy  ;  and  the  country  of  tlie 
Caesars  was  viewed  with  cold  indifference  by  a  martial 
prince,  born  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Danube, 
educated  in  the  courts  and  armies  of  Asia,  and  invested 
with  the  purple  by  the  legions  of  Britain.  The  Italians, 
who  had  received  Constantine  as  their  deliverer,  sub- 
missively obeyed  the  edicts  which  he  sometimes  con- 
descended to  address  to  the  senate  and  people  of  Rome  ; 
but  they  were  seldom  honoured  with  the  presence  of 
their  new  sovereign.  During  the  vigour  of  his  age, 
Constantine,  according  to  the  various  exigencies  of 
peace  and  war,  moved  with  slow  dignity,  or  with  active 
diligence,  along  the  frontiers  of  his  extensive  domin- 
ions ;  and  was  always  prepared  to  take  the  tield  either 
against  a  foreign  or  a  domestic  enemy.  But,  as  he 
gradually  reached  the  summit  of  prosperity  and  the 
decline  of  life,  he  began  to  meditate  the  design  of  fixing 
in  a  more  permanent  station  the  strength  as  well  as 
majesty  of  the  throne.  In  the  choice  of  an  advanta- 
geous situation,  he  preferred  the  confines  of  Europe 
and  Asia  ;  to  curb,  with  a  powerful  arm,  the  barbarians 
who  dwelt  between  the  Danube  and  the  Tanais  ;  to 
watch  with  an  eye  of  jealousy  the  conduct  of  the  Persian 
monarch,  who  indignantly  supported  the  yoke  of  an 
ignominious  treaty.  With  these  views  Diocletian  had 
selected  and  embellished  the  residence  of  Nicomedia  : 
but  the  memory  of  Diocletian  was  justly  abhorred  by 
the  protector  of  the  church  ;  and  Constantine  was  not 
insensible  to  the  ambition  of  founding  a  city  which 
might  perpetuate  the  glory  of  his  own  name.  During 
the  late  operations  of  the  war  against  Licinius,  he  had 
sufficient  opportunity  to  contemplate,  both  as  a  soldier 
and  as  a  statesman,  the  incomparable  position  of  By- 
zantium ;  and  to  observe  how  strongly  it  was  guarded 
by  nature  against  an  hostile  attack,  whilst  it  was  ac- 
cessible on  every  side  to  the  benefits  of  commercial 
intercourse.     Many  ages  before    Constantine,  one  of 


824  OF  THE   ROiMAN   EMPIRE  163 

the  most  judicious  historians  of  antiquity  ^  had  described 
the  advantages  of  a  situation^  from  whence  a  feeble 
colony  of  Greeks  derived  the  command  of  the  sea  and 
the  honours  of  a  flourishing  and  independent  republic.^ 

If  we  survey  Byzantium  in  the  extent  which  it  ac- 
quired with  the  august  name  of  Constantinople,,  the 
figure  of  the  Imperial  city  may  be  represented  under 
that  of  an  unequal  triangle.  The  obtuse  point,  which 
advances  towards  the  east  and  the  shores  of  Asia, 
meets  and  repels  the  waves  of  the  Thracian  Bosphorus. 
The  northern  side  of  the  city  is  bounded  by  the 
harbour  ;  and  the  southern  is  washed  by  the  Propontis, 
or  sea  of  Marmara,  Tlie  basis  of  the  triangle  is  op- 
posed to  the  west,  and  terminates  the  continent  of 
Europe.  But  the  admirable  form  and  division  of  the 
circumjacent  land  and  water  cannot,  without  a  more 
ample  explanation,  be  clearly  or  sufficiently  under- 
stood. 

The  winding  channel  through  which  the  waters  of 
the  Euxine  flow  with  a  rapid  and  incessant  course 
towards  the  Mediterranean  received  the  appellation  of 
Bosphorus,  a  name  not  less  celebrated  in  the  history 
than  in  the  fables  of  antiquity.  A  crowd  of  temples 
and  of  votive  altars,  profusely  scattered  along  its  steep 
and  woody  banks,  attested  the  unskilfulness,  the  terrors, 
and  the  devotion  of  the  Grecian  navigators,  who,  after 
the  example  of  the  Argonauts,  explored  the  dangers  of 
the  inhospitable  Euxine.  On  these  banks  tradition 
long  preserved  the  memory  of  the  palace  of  Phineus, 

1  Polybius,  1.  iv.  p.  423,  edit.  Casaubon.  He  observes  that 
the  peace  of  the  Byzantines  was  frequently  disturbed,  and  the 
extent  of  their  territory  contracted,  by  the'  inroads  of  the  wild 
Thracians. 

2  The  navigator  Byzas,  who  was  styled  the  son  of  Neptune, 
founded  the  city  656  years  befcu-e  the  Christian  sera.  His 
followers  were  drawn  from  Argos  and  Megara.  Byzantium 
was  afterwards  rebuilt  and  fortified  by  the  Spartan  general 
Pausanias.  With  regard  to  the  wars  of  the  Byzantines  against 
Phihp,  the  Gauls,  and  the  kings  of  Bithynia,'  we  should  trust 
none  but  the  ancient  writers  who  lived  before  the  greatness  of 
the  Imperial  city  had  excited  a  spirit  of  flatten.'  and  fiction. 


164  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

infested  by  the  obscene  harpies ;  ^  and  of  the  sylvan 
reign  of  Amycus,  who  defied  the  son  of  Leda  to  the 
combat  of  the  Cestus.*  The  straits  of  the  Bosphorus 
are  terminated  by  the  Cyanean  rocks,  which,  according 
to  the  description  of  the  poets,  had  once  floated  on  the 
face  of  the  water?,  and  were  destined  by  the  gods  to 
protect  the  entrance  of  the  Euxine  against  the  eye  of 
profane  curiosity.^  From  the  Cyanean  rocks  to  the 
point  and  harbour  of  Byzantium,  the  winding  length 
of  the  Bosphorus  extends  about  sixteen  miles,^  and  its 
most  ordinary  breadth  may  be  computed  at  about  one 
mile  and  a  half.  The  new  castles  of  Europe  and  Asia 
are  constructed,  on  either  continent,  upon  the  founda- 
tions of  two  celebrated  temples,  of  Serapis  and  of 
Jupiter  Urius.  The  old  castles,  a  work  of  the  Greek 
emperors,  command  the  narrowest  part  of  the  channel, 
in  a  place  where  the  opposite  banks  advance  within 
five  hundred  paces  of  each  other.  These  fortresses 
were  restored  and  strengthened  by  Mahomet  the  Second, 
when  he  meditated  the  siege  of  Constantinople  :  ^  but 
the   Turkish    conqueror  was  most  probably  ignorant 

3  There  are  very  few  conjectures  so  happy  as  that  of  Le  Clerc 
(BibHotheque  Universelle,  torn.  i.  p.  148),  who  supposes  that  the 
harpies  were  only  locusts.  The  Syriac  or  Phoenician  name  of 
those  insects,  their  noisy  flight,  the  stench  and  devastation 
which  they  occasion,  and  the  north  wind  which  drives  them 
into  the  sea,  all  contribute  to  form  this  striking  resemblance. 

4  The  residence  of  Amycus  was  in  Asia,  between  the  old  and 
the  new  castles,  at  a  place  called  Laurus  Insana.  That  of 
Phineus  was  in  Europe,  near.' the  village  of  Mauromole  and  the 
Black  Sea. 

5  The  deception  was  occasioned  by  several  pointed  rocks, 
alternately  covered  and  abandoned  by  the  waves.  At  present 
there  are  two  small  islands,  one  towards  either  shore:  that  of 
Europe  is  distinguished  by  the  column  of  Pompey. 

6  The  ancients  computed  one  hundred  and  twenty  stadia,  or 
fifteen  Roman  miles.  They  measured  only  from  the  new 
castles,  but  they  carried  the  straits  as  far  as  the  town  of 
Chalcedon. 

"  Under  the  Greek  empire  these  castles  were  used  as  state 
prisons,  under  the  tremendous  name  of  Lethe,  or  towers  of 
oblivion. 


824  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  165 

that,  near  two  thousand  years  before  his  reign,  Darius 
had  chosen  the  same  situation  to  connect  the  two  con- 
tinents by  a  bridge  of  boats.  ^  At  a  small  distance 
from  the  old  castles  we  discover  the  little  town  of 
Chrysopolis,  or  Scutari,  which  may  almost  be  considered 
as  the  Asiatic  suburb  of  Constantinople.  The  Bos- 
phorus,  as  it  begins  to  open  into  the  Propontis,  passes 
between  Byzantium  and  Chalcedon.  The  latter  of 
those  cities  was  built  by  the  Greeks,  a  few  years  before 
the  former ;  and  the  blindness  of  its  founders,  who 
overlooked  the  superior  advantages  of  the  opposite 
coast,  has  been  stigmatised  by  a  proverbial  expression 
of  contempt. 

The  harbour  of  Constantinople,  which  may  be  con- 
sidered as  an  arm  of  the  Bosphorus,  obtained,  in  a  very 
remote  period,  the  denomination  of  the  Golden  Horn. 
The  curve  which  it  describes  might  be  compared  to  the 
horn  of  a  stag,  or,  as  it  should  seem,  with  more 
propriety,  to  that  of  an  ox.^  The  epithet  of  golden 
was  expressive  of  the  riches  which  every  wind  wafted 
from  the  most  distant  countries  into  the  secure  and 
capacious  port  of  Constantinople.  The  river  Lycus, 
formed  by  the  conflux  of  two  little  streams,  pours  into 
the  harbour  a  perpetual  supply  of  fresh  water,  which 
serves  to  cleanse  the  bottom  and  to  invite  the  periodical 
shoals  of  fish  to  seek  their  retreat  in  that  convenient 
recess.  As  the  vicissitudes  of  tides  are  scarcely  felt  in 
those  seas,  the  constant  depth  of  the  harbour  allows 
goods  to  be  landed  on  the  quays  without  the  assistance 
of  boats  ;  and  it  has  been  observed  that  in  many  places 
the  largest  vessels  may  rest  their  prows  against  the 
houses,  while  their  sterns  are  floating  in  the  water. 
From  the  mouth  of  the  Lycus  to  that  of  the  harbour 

8  Darius  engraved  in  Greek  and  Assyrian  letters  on  two 
marble  columns  the  names  of  his  subject  nations,  and  the 
amazing  numbers  of  his  land  and  sea  forces.  The  Byzantines 
afterwards  transported  these  columns  into  the  city,  and  used 
them  for  the  altars  of  their  tutelar  deities. 

^  Most  of  the  antlers  are  now  broke  off;  or,  to  speak  less 
figuratively,  most  of  the  recesses  of  the  harbour  are  filled  up. 


166  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.i>. 

this  arm  of  the  Bosphorus  is  more  than  seven  miles  in 
length.  The  entrance  is  about  five  hundred  yards 
broad,  and  a  strong  chain  could  be  occasionally  drawn 
across  it,  to  sfuard  the  port  and  city  from  the  attack  of 
an  hostile  navy.i^ 

Between  the  Bosphorus  and  the  Hellespont,  the 
shores  of  Europe  and  Asia  receding  on  either  side 
inclose  the  sea  of  Marmara,  which  was  known  to  the 
ancients  by  the  denomination  of  Propontis.  The  navi- 
gation from  the  issue  of  the  Bosphorus  to  the  entrance 
of  the  Hellespont  is  about  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles.  Those  who  steer  their  westward  course  through 
the  middle  of  the  Propontis  may  at  once  descry  the 
high  lands  of  Thrace  and  Bithynia,  and  never  lose 
siglit  of  the  lofty  summit  of  Mount  Olympus,  covered 
with  eternal  snows.  They  leave  on  the  left  a  deep 
gulf,  at  the  bottom  of  which  Nicomedia  was  seated,  the 
imperial  residence  of  Diocletian  ;  and  they  pass  the 
small  islands  of  Cyzicus  and  Proconnesus  before  they 
cast  anchor  at  Gallipoli ;  where  the  sea,  which  separates 
Asia  from  Europe,  is  again  contracted  into  a  narrow 
channel. 

The  geographers  who,  with  the  most  skilful  accuracy, 
have  surveyed  the  form  and  extent  of  the  Hellespont, 
assign  about  sixty  miles  for  the  winding  course,  and 
about  three  miles  for  the  ordinary  breadth  of  those 
celebrated  straits.  ^^  But  the  narrowest  part  of  the 
channel  is  found  to  the  northward  of  the  old  Turkish 
castles  between  the  cities  of  Sestus  and  Abydus.  It 
was  here  that  the  adventurous  Leander  braved  the 
passage  of  the  flood  for  the  possession  of  his  mistress. 
It  was  here  likewise,  in  a  place  where  the  distance 
between  the  opposite  banks  cannot  exceed  five  hundred 

10  The  chain  was  drawn  from  the  Acropolis  near  the  modern 
Kiosk  to  the  tower  of  Galata,  and  was  supported  at  convenient 
distances  by  large  wooden  piles. 

^1  The  stadia  employed  by  Herodotus  in  the  description  of 
the  Euxine,  the  Bosphorus,  &c.  (1.  iv,  c.  85),  must  undoubtedly 
be  all  of  the  same  species  ;  but  it  seems  impossible  to  reconcile 
them  either  with  truth  or  with  each  other. 


324  OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  167 

paces,  that !  Xerxes  imposed  a  stupendous  bridge  of 
boats^  for  the  purpose  of  transporting  into  Europe  an 
hundred  and  seventy  myriads  of  barbarians.  ^^  A  sea 
contracted  within  such  narrow  limits  may  seem  but  ill 
to  deserve  the  singular  epithet  of  broad,  which  Homer, 
as  well  as  Orpheus,  has  frequently  bestowed  on  the 
Hellespont.  But  our  ideas  of  greatness  are  of  a 
relative  nature  :  the  traveller,  and  especially  the  poet, 
who  sailed  along  the  Hellespont,  who  pursued  the 
windings  of  the  stream,  and  contemplated  the  rural 
scenery,  which  appeared  on  every  side  to  terminate 
the  prospect,  insensibly  lost  the  remembrance  of  the 
sea  ;  and  his  fancy  painted  those  celebrated  straits  with 
all  the  attributes  of  a  mighty  river  flowing  with  a  swift 
current,  in  the  midst  of  a  woody  and  inland  country, 
and  at  length,  through  a  wide  mouth,  discharging 
itself  into  the  ^gean  or  Archipelago.  Ancient  Troy,^^ 
seated  on  an  eminence  at  the  foot  of  Mont  Ida,  over- 
looked the  mouth  of  the  Hellespont,  which  scarcely 
received  an  accession  of  waters  from  the  tribute  of 
those  immortal  rivulets  Simois  and  Scamander.  The 
Grecian  camp  had  stretched  twelve  miles  along  the 
shore  from  the  Sigaean  to  the  Rhoetean  promontory ; 
and  the  flanks  of  the  army  were  guarded  by  the  bravest 
chiefs  who  fought  under  the  banners  of  Agamemnon. 
The  first  of  those  promontories  was  occupied  by  Achilles 
with  his  invincible  Myrmidons,  and  the  dauntless  Ajax 
pitched  his  tents  on  the  other.  After  Ajax  had  fallen 
a  sacrifice  to  his  disappointed  pride  and  to  the  ingrati- 
tude of  the  Greeks,  his  sepulchre  was  erected  on  the 
ground  where  he  had  defended  the  navy  against  the 

12  See  the  seventh  book  of  Herodotus,  who  has  erected  an 
elegant  trophy  to  his  own  fatne  and  to  that  of  his  country.  The 
review  appears  to  have  been  made  with  tolerable  accuracy  ;  but 
the  vanity,  first  of  the  Persians  and  afterwards  of  the  Greeks, 
was  interested  to  magnify  the  armament  and  the  victory.  I 
should  much  doubt  whether  the  invaders  have  ever  outnumbered 
the  jnen  of  any  country  which  they  attacked. 

13  Demetrius  of  Scepsis  wrote  sixty  books  on  thirty  lines  of 
Homer's  Catalogue.  The  XHIth  Book  of  Strabo  is  sufficient 
for  our  curiosity. 


168  THE  DECLINE   AND  FALL  a.d. 

rage  of  Jove  and  of  Hector ;  and  the  citizens  of  the 
rising  town  of  Rhoeteum  celebrated  his  memory  with 
divine  honours.^*  Before  Constantine  gave  a  just 
preference  to  the  situation  of  Byzantium,  he  had  con- 
ceived the  design  of  erecting  the  seat  of  empire  on  this 
celebrated  spot,  from  whence  the  Romans  derived  their 
fabulous  origin.  The  extensive  plain  which  lies  below 
ancient  Troy,  towards  the  Rhcetean  promontory  and 
the  tomb  of  Ajax,  was  first  chosen  for  his  new  capital ; 
and,  though  the  undertaking  was  soon  relinquished, 
the  stately  remains  of  unfinished  walls  and  towers 
attracted  the  notice  of  all  who  sailed  through  the  straits 
of  the  Hellespont. 

We  are  at  present  qualified  to  view  the  advantageous 
position  of  Constantinople  ;  which  appears  to  have  been 
formed  by  Nature  for  the  centre  and  capital  of  a  great 
monarchy.  Situated  in  the  forty-first  degree  of  lati- 
tude, the  imperial  city  commanded,  from  her  seven 
hills,  the  opposite  shores  of  Europe  and  Asia ;  the 
climate  was  healthy  and  temperate,  the  soil  fertile, 
the  harbour  secure  and  capacious  ;  and  the  approach 
on  the  side  of  the  continent  was  of  small  extent  and 
easy  defence.  The  Bosphorus  and  Hellespont  may  be 
considered  as  the  two  gates  of  Constantinople  ;  and 
the  prince  who  possessed  those  important  passages 
could  always  shut  them  against  a  naval  enemy  and 
open  them  to  the  fleets  of  commerce.  The  preserva- 
tion of  the  eastern  provinces  may,  in  some  degree,  be 
ascribed  to  the  policy  of  Constantine,  as  the  barbarians  of 
the  Euxine,  who  in  the  preceding  age  had  poured  their 
armaments  into  the  heart  of  the  Mediterranean,  soon 
desisted  from  the  exercise  of  piracy,  and  despaired  of 
forcing  this  insurmountable  barrier.  When  the  gates 
of  the  Hellespont  and  Bosphorus  were  shut,  the  capi- 
tal still  enjoyed,  within  their  spacious  inclosure,  every 
production  which  could  supply  the  wants,  or  gratify 

I'l  Strabo,  1.  xiii.  p.  595.  The  disposition  of  the  ships 
which  were  drawn  upon  dry  land,  and  the  posts  of  Ajax  and 
Achilles,  are  very  clearly  described  by  Homer. 


324  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  1G9 

the  luxury,  of  its  uumerous  inhabitants.  The  sea- 
coast  of  Thrace  and  Bitliynia,  which  laneruish  under 
the  weight  of  Turkish  oppression,  still  exhibits  a  rich 
prospect  of  vineyards,  of  gardens,  and  of  plentiful 
harvests  ;  and  the  Propontis  has  ever  been  renowned 
for  an  inexhaustible  store  of  the  most  exquisite  fish,  that 
are  taken  in  their  stated  seasons  without  skill  and 
almost  without  labour.^^  But,  when  the  passages  of 
the  Straits  were  thrown  open  for  trade,  they  alter- 
nately admitted  the  natural  and  artiiicial  riches  of  the 
north  and  south,  of  the  Euxine,  and  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean. Whatever  rude  commodities  were  collected 
in  the  forests  of  Germany  and  Scythia,  as  far  as  the 
sources  of  the  Tanais  and  the  Borysthenes  ;  whatsoever 
was  manufactured  by  the  skill  of  Europe  or  Asia  ;  the 
corn  of  Egypt,  and  the  gems  and  spices  of  the  farthest 
India,  were  brought  by  the  varying  winds  into  the  port 
of  Constantinople,  which,  for  many  ages,  attracted  the 
commerce  of  the  ancient  world. 

The  prospect  of  beauty,  of  safety,  and  of  wealth, 
united  in  a  single  spot,  was  sufficient  u>  justify  the 
choice  of  Constantine.  But,  as  some  decent  mixture 
of  prodigy  and  fable  has,  in  every  age,  been  supposed 
to  reflect  a  becoming  majesty  on  the  origin  of  great 
cities,  the  emperor  was  desirous  of  ascribing  his  re- 
solution, not  so  much  to  the  uncertain  counsels  of 
human  policy,  as  to  the  infallible  and  eternal  decrees 
of  divine  wisdom.  In  one  of  his  laws  he  has  been 
careful  to  instruct  posterity  that,  in  obedience  to  the 
commands  of  God,  he  laid  the  everlasting  foundations 
of  Constantinople ;  and,  though  he  has  not  conde- 
scended to  relate  in  what  manner  the  celestial  inspira- 
tion was  communicated  to  his  mind,  the  defect  of 
his  modest  silence  has  been  liberally  supplied  by  the 
ingenuity  of  succeeding  writers,  who  describe  the 
nocturnal  vision  which  appeared  to  the  fancy  of  Con- 
is  Among  a  variety  of  different  species,  the  Pelamides,  a  sort 
of  Thunnies,  were  the  most  celebrated.  We  may  learn  from 
Polybius,  Strabo,  and  Tacitus  that  the  profits  of  the  fishery 
constituted  the  principal  revenue  of  Byzantium 

VOL.  n.  F  2 


170  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

stantiue,  as  he  slept  within  the  walls  of  Byzantium. 
The  tutelar  genius  of  the  city_,  a  venerable  matron 
sinking  under  the  weight  of  years  and  infirmities,  was 
suddenly  transformed  into  a  blooming  maid,  whom  his 
own  hands  adorned  with  all  the  symbols  of  imperial 
greatness.^^  The  monarch  awoke,  interpreted  the 
auspicious  omen,  and  obeyed,  without  hesitation,  the 
will  of  heaven.  The  day  which  gave  birth  to  a  city 
or  colony  was  celebrated  by  the  Romans  with  such 
ceremonies  as  had  been  ordained  by  a  generous  super- 
stition ;  ^''  and,  though  Constantine  might  omit  some 
rites  which  savoured  too  strongly  of  their  Pagan  origin, 
yet  he  was  anxious  to  leave  a  deep  impression  of  hope 
and  respect  on  tlie  minds  of  the  spectators.  On  foot, 
with  a  lance  in  his  hand,  the  emperor  himself  led  the 
solemn  procession  ;  and  directed  the  line  which  was 
traced  as  the  boundary  of  the  destined  capital ;  till  the 
growing  circumference  was  observed  with  astonishment 
by  the  assistants,  who,  at  length,  ventured  to  observe 
that  he  had  already  exceeded  the  most  ample  measure 
of  a  great  city.  "  1  shall  still  advance,"  replied  Con- 
stantine, "  till  HE,  the  invisible  guide  who  marches 
before  me,  thinks  proper  to  stop."  Without  presuming 
to  investigate  the  nature  or  motives  of  this  extraordi- 
nary conductor,  we  shall  content  ourselves  with  the 
more  humble  task  of  describing  the  extent  and  limits 
of  Constantinople. 

In  the  actual  state  of  the  city,  the  palace  and 
gardens  of  the  Seraglio  occupy  the  eastern  promontory, 
the  first  of  the  seven  hills,  and  cover  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  our  own  measure.  The 
seat  of  Turkish  jealousy  and  despotism  is  erected  on 

18  The  Greeks,  Theophanes,  Cedrenus,  and  the  author  of  the 
Alexandrian  Chronicle,  confine  themselves  to  vague  and  general 
expressions.  For  a  more  particular  account  of  the  vision,  we 
are  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  such  Latin  writers  as  William 
of  Malmesbury. 

"  Among  other  ceremonies,  a  large  hole,  which  had  been 
dug  for  that  purpose,  was  filled  up  with  handfuls  of  earth, 
which  each  of  the  settlers  brought  from  the  place  of  his  birth, 
and  thus  adopted  his  new  country. 


324:  OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  171 

the  foundations  of  a  Grecian  republic  ;  but  it  may  be 
supposed  that  the  Byzantines  were  tempted  by  the 
conveniency  of  tlie  harbour  to  extend  their  habitations 
on  that  side  beyond  the  modern  limits  of  the  Seraglio. 
The  new  walls  of  Constantine  stretched  from  the  port 
to  the  Propontis  across  the  enlarged  breadth  of  the 
triangle,  at  the  distance  of  fifteen  stadia  from  the 
ancient  fortification  ;  and  with  the  city  of  Byzantium 
they  inclosed  five  of  the  seven  hills,  which,  to  the  eyes 
of  those  who  approach  Constantinople,  appear  to  rise 
above  each  other  in  beautiful  order.  About  a  century 
after  the  death  of  the  founder,  the  new  building,  ex- 
tending on  one  side  up  the  harbour,  and  on  the  other 
along  the  Propontis,  already  covered  the  narrow  ridge 
of  the  sixth,  and  ithe  broad  summit  of  the  seventh, 
hill.  The  necessity  of  protecting  those  suburbs  from 
the  incessant  inroads  of  the  barbarians  engaged  the 
younger  Theodosius  to  surround  his  capital  with  an 
adequate  and  permanent  enclosure  of  walls.^®  From 
the  eastern  promontory  to  the  golden  gate,  the  extreme 
length  of  Constantinople  was  about  three  Roman 
miles  ;  ^^  the  circumference  measured  between  ten  and 
eleven  ;  and  the  surface  might  be  computed  as  equal 
to  about  two  thousand  English  acres.  It  is  impossible 
to  justify  the  vain  and  credulous  exaggerations  of 
modern  travellers,  who  have  sometimes  stretched  the 
limits  of  Constantinople  over  the  adjacent  villages  of 
the  European,  and  even  of  the  Asiatic  coast.^     But 

18  The  new  wall  of  Theodosius  was  constructed  in  the  year 
413.  In  447  it  was  thrown  down  by  an  earthquake,  and  re- 
built in  three  months  by  the  diligence  of  the  praefect  Cyrus. 
The  suburb  of  the  Blachernse  was  first  taken  into  the  city  in 
the  reign  of  Heraclius.     Ducange  Const.  1.  i.  c.  10,  11. 

19  The  measurement  is  expressed  in  the  Notitia  by  14,075 
feet.  It  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  these  were  Greek  feet ; 
the  proportion  of  which  has  been  ingeniously  determined  by 
M.  d'Anville.  He  compares  the  180  feet  with  the  78  Hashemite 
cubits  which  in  different  writers  are  assigned  for  the  height  of  St, 
Sophia.     Each  of  these  cubits  was  equal  to  27  French  inches. 

20  The  accuiate  Th^venot  (1.  i.  c.  15)  walked  in  one  hour  and 
three  quarters  round  two  of  the  sides  of  the  triangle,  from  the 


172  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

the  suburbs  of  Pera  and  Galata,  though  situate  beyond 
the  harbour,  may  deserve  to  be  considered  as  a  part  of 
the  city  ;  ^i  and  this  addition  may  perhaps  authorise 
the  measure  of  a  Byzantine  historian,  who  assigns 
sixteen  Greek  (about  fourteen  Roman)  miles  for  the 
circumference  of  his  native  city.22  Such  an  extent 
may  seem  not  unworthy  of  an  imperial  residence. 
Yet  Constantinople  must  yield  to  Babylon  and 
Thebes,-^  to  ancient  Rome,  to  London,  and  even  to 
Paris.2^ 

The  master  of  the  Roman  world,  who  aspired  to 
erect  an  eternal  monument  of  the  glories  of  his  reign, 
could  employ  in  the  prosecution  of  that  great  work 
the  wealth,  the  labour,  and  all  that  yet  remained  of 
the  genius,  of  obedient  millions.  Some  estimate  may 
be  formed  of  the  expense  bestowed  with  imperial  liber- 
ality on  the  foundation  of  Constantinople,  by  the  allow- 
ance of  about  two  millions  fivehundred  thousand  pounds 
for  the  construction  of  the  walls,  the  porticoes,  and  the 
aqueducts. ^^     The  forests  that  overehadowed  the  shores 

Kiosk  of  the  Seraglio  to  the  seven  towers.  D'Anville  examines 
with  care,  and  receives  with  confidence,  this  decisive  testimony, 
which  gives  a  circumference  of  ten  or  twelve  miles.  The  ex- 
travagant computation  of  Tournefort  (Lettre  XI.)  of  thirty-four 
or  thirty  miles,  without  including  Scutari,  is  a  strange  departure 
from  his  usual  character. 

21  The  sycse,  or  fig-trees,  formed  the  thirteenth  region,  and 
were  very  much  embellished  by  Justinian.  It  has  since  borne 
the  names  of  Pera  and  Galata.  The  etymology  of  the  former 
is  obvious  ;  that  of  the  latter  is  unknown. 

22  One  hundred  and  eleven  stadia,  which  may  be  translated 
into  modern  Greek  miles  each  of  seven  stadia,  or  660  sometimes 
only  600,  French  toises. 

23  W^hen  the  ancient  texts  which  describe  the  size  of  Babylon 
and  Thebes  are  settled,  the  exaggerations  reduced,  and  the 
measures  ascertained,  we  find  that  those  famous  cities  filled  the 
great  but  not  incredible  circumference  of  about  twenty-five  or 
thirty  miles. 

2-*  If  we  divide  Constantinople  and  Paris  into  equal  squares 
of  50  French  toises,  the  former  contains  850,  and  the  latter  1160 
of  those  divisions. 

25  Six  hundred  centenaries,  or  sixty  thousand  pounds  weight 
of  gold.      This  sum  is  taken  from  Codinus  Antiquit.  Const. 


324  OF  THE   ROMAN    EMPIRE  173 

of  the  Euxine,  and  the  celebrated  quarries  of  white 
marble  in  the  little  island  of  Proconnesus,  supplied  an 
inexhaustible  stock  of  materials,  ready  to  be  conveyed, 
by  the  convenience  of  a  short  water-carriage,  to  the 
harbour  of  Byzantium.  A  multitude  of  labourers  and 
artificers  urged  the  conclusion  of  the  work  with  incef;- 
sant  toil  :  but  the  impatience  of  Constantine  soon  dis- 
covered that,  in  the  decline  of  the  arts,  the  skill  as 
well  as  numbers  of  his  architects  bore  a  very  unequal 
proportion  to  the  greatness  of  his  designs.  The  magi- 
strates of  the  most  distant  provinces  were  therefore 
directed  to  institute  schools,  to  appoint  professors,  and 
bv  the  hopes  of  rewards  and  privileges,  to  engage  in 
the  study  and  practice  of  architecture  a  sufficient 
number  of  ingenious  youths,  who  had  received  a  liberal 
education.-^  The  buildings  of  the  new  city  were  exe- 
cuted by  such  artificers  as  the  reign  of  Constantine 
could  afford  ;  but  they  were  decorated  by  the  hands  of 
the  most  celebrated  masters  of  the  age  of  Pericles  and 
Alexander.  To  revive  the  genius  of  Phidias  and 
Lysippus  surpassed  indeed  the  power  of  a  Roman 
emperor ;  but  the  immortal  productions  which  they 
had  bequeathed  to  posterity  were  exposed  without 
defence  to  the  rapacious  vanity  of  a  despot.  By  his 
commands  the  cities  of  Greece  and  Asia  were  despoiled 
of  their  most  valuable  ornaments.  The  trophies  of 
memorable  wars,  the  objects  of  religious  veneration, 
the  most  finished  statues  of  the  gods  and  heroes,  of 
the  sages  and  poets,  of  ancient  times,  contributed  to 
the  splendid  triumph  of  Constantinople ;  and  gave 
occasion  to  the  remark  of  the  historian  Cedrenus,'''^ 

p.  II ;  but,  unless  that  contemptible  author  had  derived  his 
information  from  some  purer  sources,  he  would  probably  have 
been  unacquainted  with  so  obsolete  a  mode  of  reckoning:. 

2*5  This  law  is  dated  in  the  year  334,  and  was  addressed  to 
the  prasfect  of  Italy,  whose  jurisdiction  extended  over  Africa. 
The  commentary  of  Godefroy  on  the  whole  title  well  deserves 
to  be  consulted, 

27  Hist.  Compend.  p.  369.  He  describes  the  statue,  or  rather 
bust,  of  Homer  with  a  degree  of  taste  which  plainly  indicates 
that  Cedrenus  copied  the  style  of  a  more  fortunate  age. 


174  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

wlio  observes,  with  some  enthusiasm,  that  nothing^ 
seemed  wantins:  except  the  souls  of  the  illustrious  men 
whom  those  admirable  monuments  were  intended  to 
represent.  But  it  is  not  in  the  city  of  Constantino, 
nor  in  the  declinins:  period  of  an  empire  when  the 
human  mind  was  depressed  by  civil  and  religious 
slavery,  that  we  should  seek  for  the  souls  of  Homer 
and  of  Demosthenes. 

During-  the  siege  of  Byzantium,  the  conqueror  had 
pitched  his  tent  on  the  commanding  eminence  of  the 
second  hill.  To  perpetuate  the  memory  of  his  success, 
he  chose  the  same  advant:igeous  position  for  the  prin- 
cipia  Forum  ;  which  appears  to  have  been  of  a  circular, 
or  rather  illiptical  form.  The  two  opposite  entrances 
formed  triumphal  arches  ;  the  porticoes,  which  inclosed 
it  on  every  side,  were  filled  with  statues  ;  and  the 
centre  of  the  Forum  was  occupied  by  a  lofty  column, 
of  which  a  mutilated  fragment  is  now  degraded  by  the 
appellation  of  the  burnt  pillar.  This  column  was  erected 
on  a  pedestal  of  white  marble  twenty  feet  high  ;  and 
was  composed  often  pieces  of  porphyry,  each  of  which 
measured  above  ten  feet  in  height  and  about  thirty- 
three  in  circumference.  On  the  summit  of  the  pillar, 
above  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  from  the  ground, 
stood  the  colossal  statue  of  Apollo.  It  was  of  bronze, 
had  been  transported  either  from  Athens  or  from  a 
town  of  Phrygia,  and  was  supposed  to  be  the  work  of 
Phidias.  The  artist  had  represented  the  god  of  day, 
or,  as  it  was  afterwards  interpreted,  the  emperor  Con- 
stantine  himself,  with  a  sceptre  in  his  right  hand,  the 
globe  of  the  world  in  his  left,  and  a  crown  of  rays 
glittering  on  his  head.  The  Circus,  or  Hippodrome, 
was  a  stately  building  about  four  hundred  paces  in 
length  and  one  hundred  in  breadth.  The  space  be- 
tween the  two  metiE  or  goals  was  filled  with  statues  and 
obelisks  ;  and  we  may  still  remark  a  very  singular 
fragment  of  antiquity  ;  the  bodies  of  three  serpents, 
twisted  into  one  pillar  of  brass.  Their  triple  heads 
had  once  supported  the  golden  tripod  which,  after  the 
defeat  of  Xerxes,  was  consecrated  in  the  temple  of 


OF   THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  175 

Delphi  by  the  victorious  Greeks. ^^  The  beauty  of  the 
Hippodrome  has  been  long-  since  defaced  by  the  rude 
hands  of  the  Turkish  conquerors  ;  but,  under  the 
similar  appellation  of  Atmeidan,  it  still  serves  as  a  place 
of  exercise  for  their  horses.  From  the  throne,  whence 
the  emperor  viewed  the  Circensian  games,  a  winding- 
staircase^^  descended  to  the  palace;  a  magnificent 
edifice,  which  scarcely  yielded  to  the  residence  of 
Rome  itself,  and  which,  together  with  the  dependent 
courts,  gardens,  and  porticoes,  covered  a  considerable 
extent  of  ground  upon  the  banks  of  the  Propontis 
between  the  Hippodrome  and  the  church  of  St.  Sophia. ^"^ 
We  might  likewise  celebrate  the  baths,  which  still 
retained  the  name  of  Zeuxippus,  after  they  had  been 
enriched,  by  the  munificence  of  Constantine,  with  lofty 
columns,  various  marbles,  and  above  threescore  statues 
of  bronze.^^     But  we  should  deviate  from  the  design 

28  The  guardians  of  the  most  holy  relics  would  rejoice  if  they 
were  able  to  produce  such  a  chain  of  evidence  as  may  be  alleged 
on  this  occasion,  i.  The  original  consecration  of  the  tripod  and 
pillar  in  the  temple  of  Delphi  may  be  proved  from  Herodotus 
and  Pausanias.  2.  The  Pagan  Zosimus  agrees  with  the  three 
ecclesiastical  historians,  Eusebius,  Socrates,  and  Sozomen,  that 
the  sacred  ornaments  of  the  temple  of  Delphi  were  removed  to 
Constantinople  by  the  order  of  Constantine  ;  and  among  these 
the  serpentine  pillar  of  the  Hippodrome  is  particularly  men- 
tioned. 3.  All  the  European  travellers  who  have  visited  Con- 
stantinople, from  Buondelmonte  to  Pocock,  describe  it  in  the 
same  place,  and  almost  in  the  same  manner  ;  the  differences 
between  them  are  occasioned  only  by  the  injuries  which  it  has 
sustained  from  the  Turks.  Mahomet  the  Second  broke  the 
under-jaw  of  one  of  the  serpents  with  a  stroke  of  his  battle-axe. 

29  The  Latin  name  Cochlea  was  adopted  by  the  Greeks,  and 
very  frequently  occurs  in  the  Byzantine  history. 

30  There  are  three  topographical  points  which  indicate  the 
situation  of  the  palace,  i.  The  staircase,  which  connected  it 
with  the  Plippodrome  or  Atmeidan.  2.  A  small  artificial  port 
on  the  Propontis,  from  whence  there  was  an  easy  ascent,  by  a 
flight  of  marble  steps,  to  the  gardens  of  the  palace.  3.  The 
Augusteum  was  a  spacious  court,  one  side  of  which  was  occu- 
pied by  the  front  of  the  palace,  and  another  by  the  church  of 
St.  Sophia. 

31  Zeuxippus  was  an  epithet  of  Jupiter,  and  the  baths  were  a 
part  of  old  Byzantium.     The  difficulty  of  assigning  their  true 


176  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

of  this  history,  if  we  attempted  minutely  to  describe 
the  different  buildings  or  quarters  of  the  city.  It  may 
be  sufficient  to  observe  that  whatever  could  adorn  the 
dignity  of  a  great  capital,  or  contribute  to  the  benefit 
or  pleasure  of  its  numerous  inhabitants,  was  contained 
within  the  walls  of  Constantinople.  A  particular  de- 
scription, composed  about  a  century  after  its  foundation, 
enumerates  a  capitol  or  school  of  learning,  a  circus, 
two  theatres,  eight  public,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
three  private,  baths,  fifty-two  porticoes,  five  granaries, 
eight  aqueducts  or  reservoirs  of  water,  four  spacious 
halls  for  the  meetings  of  the  senate  or  courts  of  justice, 
fourteen  churches,  fourteen  palaces,  and  four  thousand 
three  hundred  and  eighty-eight  houses,  which,  for  their 
size  or  beauty,  deserved  to  be  distinguished  from  the 
multitude  of  plebeian  habitations.^ 

The  populousness  of  his  favoured  city  was  the  next 
and  most  serious  object  of  the  attention  of  its  founder. 
In  the  dark  ages  which  succeeded  the  translation  of 
the  empire,  the  remote  and  the  immediate  consequences 
of  that  memorable  event  were  strangely  confounded 
by  the  vanity  of  the  Greeks  and  the  credulity  of  the 
Latins. 33     It  was   asserted  and  believed  that  all  the 

situation  has  not  been  felt  by  Ducange.  History  seems  to  con- 
nect them  with  St.  Sophia  and  the  palace ;  but  the  original 
plan,  inserted  in  Banduri,  places  them  on  the  other  side  of  the 
city,  near  the  harbour. 

32  See  the  Notitia.  Rome  only  reckoned  1780  large  houses, 
domus ;  but  the  word  must  have  had  a  more  dignified  signi- 
fication. No  insulcB  are  mentioned  at  Constantinople.  The 
old  capital  consisted  of  424  streets,  the  new  of  322. 

33  The  modern  Greeks  have  strangely  disfigured  the  anti- 
quities of  Constantinople.  We  might  excuse  the  errors  of  the 
Turkish  or  Arabian  writers  ;  but  it  is  somewhat  astonishing 
that  the  Greeks,  who  had  access  to  the  authentic  materials  pre- 
served in  their  own  language,  should  prefer  fiction  to  truth  and 
loose  tradition  to  genuine  history.  In  a  single  page  of  Codinus 
we  may  detect  twelve  unpardonable  mistakes  :  the  reconcilia- 
tion of  Severus  and  Niger,  the  marriage  of  their  son  and 
daughter,  the  siege  of  Byzantium  by  the  Macedonians,  the 
invasion  of  the  Gauls,  which  recalled  Severus  to  Rome,  the 
sixty  years  which  elapsed  from  his  death  to  the  foundation  of 
Constantinople,  &c 


OF  THE   ROxMAN  EMPIRE  177 

noble  families  of  Rome,,  the  senate,  and  the  equestrian 
order,  with  their  innumerable  attendants,  had  followed 
their  emperor  to  the  banks  of  the  Propontis ;  that  a 
spurious  race  of  stranig-ers  and  plebeians  was  left  to 
possess  the  solitude  of  the  ancient  capital ;  and  that 
the  lands  of  Italy,  long  since  converted  into  gardens, 
were  at  once  deprived  of  cultivation  and  inhabitants. 
In  the  course  of  this  history,  such  exaggerations  will 
be  reduced  to  their  just  value  :  yet,  since  the  growth 
of  Constantinople  cannot  be  ascribed  to  the  general 
increase  of  mankind  and  of  industry,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  this  artificial  colony  was  raised  at  the 
expense  of  the  ancient  cities  of  the  empire.  Many 
opulent  senators  of  Rome,  and  of  the  Eastern  provinces, 
were  probably  invited  by  Constantine  to  adopt  for 
their  country  the  fortunate  spot  which  he  had  chosen 
for  his  own  residence.  The  invitations  of  a  master  are 
scarcely  to  be  distinguished  from  commands  ;  and  the 
liberality  of  the  emperor  obtained  a  ready  and  cheerful 
obedience.  He  bestowed  on  his  favourites  the  palaces 
which  he  had  built  in  the  several  quarters  of  the  city, 
assigned  them  lands  and  pensions  for  the  support  of 
their  dignity, ^^  and  alienated  the  demesnes  of  Pontus 
and  Asia,  to  grant  hereditary  estates  by  the  easy 
tenure  of  maintaining  a  house  in  the  capital.  But 
these  encouragements  and  obligations  soon  became 
superfluous,  and  were  gradually  abolished.  A^Tierever 
the  seat  of  government  is  fixed,  a  considerable  part  of 
the  public  revenue  will  be  expended  by  the  prince 
himself,  by  his  ministers,  by  the  officers  of  justice, 
and  by  the  domestics  of  the  palace.  The  most  wealthy 
of  the  provincials  will  be  attracted  by  the  powerful 
motives  of  interest  and  duty,  of  amusement  and 
curiosity.  A  third  and  more  numerous  class  of 
inhabitants  will  insensibly  be  formed,  of  servants,  of 

**  If  we  could  credit  Codinus  (p.  lo),  Constantine  built  houses 
for  the  senators  on  the  exact  model  of  their  Roman  palaces, 
and  gratified  them,  as  well  as  himself,  with  the  pleasure  of  an 
agreeable  surprise;  but  the  whole  story  is  full  of  fictions  and 
inconsistencies. 


178  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

artificers,  and  of  merchantSj  who  derive  their  sub- 
sistence from  their  own  labour  and  from  the  wants 
or  luxury  of  the  superior  ranks.  In  less  than  a 
century,  Constantinople  disputed  with  Rome  itself 
the  pre-eminence  of  riches  and  numbers.  New  piles 
of  buildings,  crowded  together  with  too  little  re- 
gard to  health  or  convenience,  scarcely  allowed  the 
intervals  of  narrow  streets  for  the  perpetual  throng 
of  men,  of  horses,  and  of  carriages.  The  allotted 
space  of  ground  was  insufficient  to  contain  the  in- 
creasing people  ;  and  the  additional  foundations, 
which,  on  either  side,  were  advanced  into  the 
sea,  might  alone  have  composed  a  very  considerable 
city. 

The  frequent  and  regular  distributions  of  wine  and 
oil,  of  corn  or  bread,  of  money  or  provisions,  had 
almost  exempted  the  poorer  citizens  of  Rome  from  the 
necessity  of  labour.  The  magnificence  of  the  first 
Ciesars  was  in  some  measure  imitated  by  the  founder 
of  Constantinople  :  ^  but  his  liberality,  however  it 
might  excite  the  applause  of  the  people,  has  incurred 
the  censure  of  posterity.  A  nation  of  legislators  and 
conquerors  might  assert  their  claim  to  the  harvests  of 
Africa,  which  had  been  purchased  with  their  blood ; 
and  it  was  artfully  contrived  by  Augustus  that,  in 
the  enjoyment  of  plenty,  the  Romans  should  lose  the 
memory  of  freedom.  But  the  prodigality  of  Constan- 
tino could  not  be  excused  by  any  consideration  either 
of  public  or  private  interest ;  and  the  annual  tribute 
of  corn  imposed  upon  Egypt  for  the  benefit  of  his  new 
capital  was  applied  to  feed  a  lazy  and  indolent  populace, 
at  the  expense  of  the  husbandmen  of  an  industrious 
province.  Some  other  regulations  of  this  emperor  are 
less  liable  to  blame,  but  they  are  less  deserving  of 
notice.       He    divided    Constantinople    into    fourteen 

^  It  appears  by  Socrates,  1.  ii.  c.  13,  that  the  daily  allow- 
ances of  the  city  consisted  of  eight  myriads  of  airov,  which 
we  may  either  translate  with  Valesius  by  the  words  modii 
of  corn  or  consider  as  expressive  of  the  number  of  loaves  of 
bread. 


S30-834       OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  179 

regions  or  quarters/^  dignified  the  public  council  with 
the  appellation  of  Senate^'*'^  communicated  to  the 
citizens  the  privileires  of  Italy,  and  bestowed  on  the 
rising  city  the  title  of  Colony,  the  first  and  most 
favoured  daughter  of  ancient  Rome.-  The  venerable 
parent  still  maintained  the  legal  and  acknowledged 
supremacy  which  was  due  to  her  age,  to  her  dignity, 
and  to  the  remembrance  of  her  former  greatness.^ 

As  Constantine  urged  the  progress  of  the  work  with 
the  impatience  of  a  lover,  the  walls,  the  porticoes,  and 
the  principal  edifices,  were  completed  in  a  few  years, 
or,  according  to  another  account,  in  a  few  months ; 
but  this  extraordinary  diligence  should  excite  the  less 
admiration,  since  many  of  the  buildings  were  finished 
in  so  hasty  and  imperfect  a  manner  that,  under  the 
succeeding  reign,  they  were  preserved  with  diflSculty 
from  impending  ruin.  But,  while  they  displayed  the 
vigour  and  freshness  of  youth,  the  founder  prepared 
to  celebrate  the  dedication  of  his  city.^^     The  games 

^  The  regions  of  Constantinople  are  mentioned  in  the  code 
of  Justinian,  and  particularly  described  in  the  Notitia  of  the 
younger  Theodosius  ;  but,  as  the  four  last  of  them  are  not  in- 
cluded within  the  wall  of  Constantine,  it  may  be  doubted  whether 
this  division  of  the  city  should  be  referred  to  the  founder. 

37  The  senators  of  old  Rome  were  styled  Clarissimi.  From 
the  nth  epistle  of  Julian,  it  should  seem  that  the  place  of  senator 
was  considered  as  a  burthen  rather  than  as  an  honour  ;  but  the 
Abb^  de  la  Bl^terie  (Vie  de  Jovien,  t.  ii.  p.  371)  has  shown  that 
this  epistle  could  not  relate  to  Constantinople.  Might  we  not 
read,  instead  of  the  celebrated  name  of  Bu^ai'rioij,  the  obscure 
but  more  probable  word  BLaavdrjvoLs  ?  Bisanthe  or  Rhoedestus, 
now  Rhodosto,  was  a  small  maritime  city  of  Thrace. 

^  Julian  (Orat.  i.  p.  8)  celebrates  Constantinople  as  not  less 
superior  to  all  other  cities  than  she  was  inferior  to  Rome  itself. 
His  learned  commentator  (Spanheim,  pp.  75,  76)  justifies  this 
language  by  several  parallel  and  contemporary  instances. 
Zosimus,  as  well  as  Socrates  and  Sozomen,  flourished  after  the 
division  of  the  empire  between  the  two  sons  of  Theodosius, 
which  established  a  perfect  equality  between  the  old  and  the 
new  capital. 

39  Cedrenus  and  Zonaras,  faithful  to  the  mode  of  superstition 
which  prevailed  in  their  own  times,  assure  us  that  Constanti- 
nople was  consecrated  to  the  Virgin  Mother  of  God. 


180  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

and  largesses  which  crowned  the  pomp  of  this  memor- 
able festival  may  easily  be  supposed  ;  but  there  is  one 
circumstance  of  a  more  sing-ular  and  permanent  nature, 
which  ou^ht  not  entirely  to  be  overlooked.  As  often 
as  the  birthday  -of  the  city  returned,  the  statue  of 
Constantine,  framed,  by  his  order,  of  gilt  wood,  and 
bearing  in  its  right  hand  a  small  image  of  the  genius 
of  the  place,  was  erected  on  a  triumphal  car.  The 
guards,  carrying  white  tapers,  and  clothed  in  their 
richest  apparel,  accompanied  the  solemn  procession 
as  it  moved  through  the  Hippodrome.  A\^hen  it  was 
opposite  to  the  throne  of  the  reigning  emperor,  he 
rose  from  his  seat,  and  with  grateful  reverence  adored 
the  memory  of  his  predecessor.'*^  At  the  festival  of 
the  dedication,  an  edict,  engraved  on  a  column  of 
marble,  bestowed  the  title  of  Second  or  New  Rome  on 
the  city  of  Constantine.  But  the  name  of  Constanti- 
nople*'^ has  prevailed  over  that  honourable  epithet; 
and,  after  the  revolution  of  fourteen  centuries,  still 
perpetuates  the  fame  of  its  author.'*- 
•  The  foundation  of  a  new  capital  is  naturally  con- 
nected with  the  establishment  of  a  new  form  of  civil 
and  military  administration.  The  distinct  view  of  the 
complicated  system  of  policy,  introduced  by  Diocletian, 

40  The  earliest  and  most  complete  account  of  this  extraordinary 
ceremony  may  be  found  in  the  Alexandrian  Chronicle,  p.  285. 
Tillemont,  and  the  other  friends  of  Constantine,  who  are 
offended  with  the  air  of  Paganism  which  seems  unworthy  of  a 
Christian  Prince,  had  a  right  to  consider  it  as  doubtful,  but 
they  were  not  authorised  to  omit  the  mention  of  it. 

41  The  name  of  Constantinople  is  extant  on  the  medals  of 
Constantine. 

42  The  lively  Fontenelle  (Dialogues  des  Morts,  xii.)  affects  to 
deride  the  vanity  of  human  ambition,  and  seems  to  triumph  in 
the  disappointment  of  Constantine,  whose  immortal  name  is 
now  lost  in  the  vulgar  appellation  of  Istambol,  a  Turkish  cor- 
ruption of  els  TT]v  irbXiv.  Yet  the  original  name  is  still  pre- 
served, I.  By  the  nations  of  Europe.  2.  By  the  modern  Greeks. 
3.  By  the  Arabs,  whose  writings  are  diffused  over  the  wide 
extent  of  their  conquests  in  Asia  and  Africa.  See  d'Herbelot 
Biblioth^que  Orientale,  p.  275.  4,  By  the  more  learned  Turks, 
and  by  the  emperor  himself  in  his  public  mandates. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  181 

improved  by  Constantine,  and  completed  by  his  im- 
mediate successors,  may  not  only  amuse  the  fancy 
by  the  singular  picture  of  a  grreat  empire,  but  will 
tend  to  illustrate  the  secret  and  internal  causes  of  its 
rapid  decay.  In  the  pursuit  of  any  remarkable  insti- 
tution, we  may  be  frequently  led  into  the  more  early 
or  the  more  recent  times  of  the  Roman  history  ;  but 
the  proper  limits  of  this  inquiry  will  be  included 
within  a  period  of  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  years, 
from  the  accession  of  Constantine  to  the  publication  of 
the  Theodosian  code  ;  '^^  from  which,  as  well  as  from 
the  Notitia  of  the  east  and  west,^^  we  derive  the  most 
copious  and  authentic  information  of  the  state  of  the 
empire.  This  variety  of  objects  will  suspend,  for  some 
time,  the  course  of  the  narrative  ;  but  the  interruption 
will  be  censured  only  by  those  readers  who  are  in- 
sensible to  the  importance  of  laws  and  manners,  while 
they  peruse,  withfeager  curiosity,  the  transient  intrigues 
of  a  court,  or  the  accidental  event  of  a  battle. 

The  manly  pride  of  the  Romans,  content  with  sub- 
stantial power,  had  left  to  the  vanity  of  the  east  the 
forms  and  ceremonies  of  ostentatious  greatness.  But 
when  they  lost  even  the  semblance  of  those  virtues 
which  were  derived  from  their  ancient  freedom,  the 
simplicity  of  Roman  manners  was  insensibly  corrupted 
by  the  stately  affectation  of  the  courts  of  Asia.  The 
distinctions  of  personal  merit  and  influence,  so  con- 
spicuous in  a  republic,  so  feeble  and  obscure  under  a 
monarchy,  were  abolished  by  the  despotism  of  the 
emperors ;  who  substituted  in  their  room  a  severe 
subordination  of  rank  and  oflfice,  from  the  titled  slaves^ 
who  were  seated  on  the  steps  of  the  throne,  to  the 
meanest  instruments  of  arbitrary  power.     This  multi- 

43  The  Theodosian  code  was  promulgated  A.D.  438, 

44  Pancirolus,  in  his  elaborate  Commentary,  assigns  to  the 
Notitia  a  date  almost  similar  to  that  of  the  Theodosian  code  : 
but  his  proofs,  or  rather  conjectures,  are  extremely  feeble.  I 
should  be  rather  inclined  to  place  this  useful  work  between  the 
final  division  of  the  empire  (a.d.  395),  and  the  successful  inva- 
sion of  Gaul  by  the  Barbarians  (a.d.  407), 


182  THE  DECLINE   AND   FALL 

tude  of  abject  dependants  was  interested  in  the  support 
of  the  actual  government,  from  the  dread  of  a  revolu- 
tion, which  might  at  once  confound  their  hopes  and 
intercept  the  reward  of  their  services.  In  this  divine 
hierarchy  (for  such  it  is  frequently  styled)  every  rank 
was  marked  with  the  most  scrupulous  exactness,  and 
its  dignity  was  displayed  in  a  variety  of  trifling  and 
solemn  ceremonies,  which  it  was  a  study  to  learn 
and  a  sacrilege  to  neglect. '^^  The  purity  of  the  Latin 
language  was  debased  by  adopting,  in  the  intercourse 
of  pride  and  flattery,  a  profusion  of  epithets,  which 
TuUy  would  scarcely  have  understood,  and  which 
Augustus  would  have  rejected  with  indignation.  The 
principal  oflScers  of  the  empire  were  saluted,  even 
by  the  sovereign  himself,  with  the  deceitful  titles  of 
your  Sincerity,  your  Gravity,  your  Excellency,  your 
Eminence,  your  sublime  and  wonderful  Magnitude,  your 
illustrious  and  magnificent  Highness.  The  codicils  or 
patents  of  their  office  were  curiously  emblazoned  with 
such  emblems  as  were  best  adapted  to  explain  its  nature 
and  high  dignity  ;  the  image  or  portrait  of  the  reigning 
emperors  ;  a  triumphal  car ;  the  book  of  mandates 
placed  on  a  table,  covered  with  a  rich  carpet,  and 
illuminated  by  four  tapers  ;  the  allegorical  figures  of 
the  provinces  which  they  governed  ;  or  the  appellations 
and  standards  of  the  troops  whom  they  commanded. 
Some  of  these  official  ensigns  were  really  exhibited  in 
their  hall  of  audience  ;  others  preceded  their  pompous 
march  whenever  they  appeared  in  public  ;  and  every 
circumstance  of  their  demeanour,  their  dress,  their 
ornaments,  and  their  train,  was  calculated  to  inspire 
a  deep  reverence  for  the  representatives  of  supreme 
majesty.  By  a  philosophic  observer,  the  system  of 
the  Roman  government  might  have  been  mistaken  for 
a  splendid  theatre,  filled  with  players  of  every  char- 

^  The  emperor  Gratian,  after  confirming  a  law  of  precedency 
published  by  Valentinian,  the  father  of  his  Divinity,  thus  con- 
tinues :  Siquis  igitur  indebitum  sibi  locum  usurpaverit,  nulla  se 
ignoratione  defendat ;  sitque  plane  sacrilegii  reus,  qui  divina 
praecepta  neglexerit. 


OF,  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  183 

acter  and    degree,   who  repeated    the   language,  and 
imitated  the  passions,  of  their  original  model. 

All  the  magistrates  of  sufficient  impoi-tance  to  find 
a  place  in  the  general  state  of  the  empire  were  accurately 
divided  into  three  classes.  1.  The  Illustrious.  2.  The 
Spectabiles,  or  Respectable:  And,  3.  The  Clarissimi ; 
whom  we  may  translate  by  the  word  Honourable.  In 
the  times  of  Roman  simplicity,  the  last-mentioned 
epithet  was  used  only  as  a  vague  expression  of  defer- 
ence, till  it  became  at  length  the  peculiar  and  appro- 
priated title  of  all  who  were  members  of  the  senate,**^ 
and  consequently  of  all  who,  from  that  venerable  body, 
were  selected  to  govern  the  provinces.  The  vanity  of 
those  who,  from  their  rank  and  office,  might  claim  a 
superior  distinction  above  the  rest  of  the  senatorial 
order  was  long  afterwards  indulged  with  the  new 
appellation  of  Respectable ;  but  the  title  of  Illustrious 
was  always  reserved  to  some  eminent  personages  who 
were  obeyed  or  "  reverenced  by  the  two  subordinate 
classes.  It  was  communicated  only,  I.  To  the  consuls 
and  patricians  ;  II.  To  the  Praetorian  praefects,  with  the 
praefects  of  Rome  and  Constantinople ;  III.  To  the 
masters  general  of  the  cavalry  and  the  infantry ;  and, 
IV.  To  the  seven  ministers  of  the  palace,  who  exercised 
their  sacred  functions  about  the  person  of  the  emperor.*^ 
Among  those  illustrious  magistrates  who  were  esteemed 
co-ordinate  with  each  other,  the  seniority  of  appoint- 
ment gave  place  to  the  union  of  dignities.^  By  the 
expedient  of  honorary  codicils,  the  emperors,  who 
were  fond  of  multiplying  their  favours,  might  some- 

^  In  the  Pandects,  which  may  be  referred  to  the  reigns  of 
the  Antonines,  Clarissimus  is  the  ordinary  and  legal  title  of  a 
senator. 

^7  Pancirol.  pp.  12-17.  ^  have  not  taken  any  notice  of  the 
two  inferior  ranks,  Perfectissimus  and  Egregius,  which  were 
given  to  many  persons  who  were  not  raised  to  the  senatorial 
dignity. 

^  Cod.  Theodos.  1.  vi.  tit,  vi.  The  rules  of  precedency  are 
ascertained  with  the  most  minute  accuracy  by  the  emperors 
and  illustrated  with  equal  prolixity  by  their  learned  inter- 
preter. 


184  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

times  gratify  the  vanity,  though  not  the  ambition,  of 
impatient  courtiers. 

I,  As  long  as  the  Roman  consuls  were  the  first 
magistrates  of  a  free  state,  they  derived  their  right  to 
power  from  the  choice  of  the  people.  As  long  as  the 
emperors  condescended  to  disguise  the  servitude  which 
they  imposed,  the  consuls  were  still  elected  by  the  real 
or  apparent  suifi-age  of  the  senate.  From  the  reign  of 
Diocletian,  eveij  these  vestiges  of  liberty  were  abolished, 
and  the  successful  candidates  who  were  invested  with 
the  annual  honours  of  the  consulship  affected  to  deplore 
the  humiliating  condition  of  their  predecessors.  The 
Scipios  and  the  Catos  had  been  reduced  to  solicit  the 
votes  of  plebeians,  to  pass  through  the  tedious  and  ex- 
pensive forms  of  a  popular  election,  and  to  expose  their 
dignity  to  the  sbame  of  a  public  refusal ;  while  their 
own  happier  fate  bad  reserved  them  for  an  age  and 
government  in  which  the  rewards  of  virtue  were  assigned 
by  the  unerring  wisdom  of  a  graciouS  sovereign.^^  In 
the  epistles  which  the  emperor  addressed  to  the  two 
consuls  elect,  it  was  declared  that  they  were  created 
by  his  sole  authority.  Their  names  and  portraits,  en- 
graved on  gilt  tablets  of  ivory,  were  dispersed  over  the 
empire  as  presents  to  the  provinces,  the  cities,  the 
magistrates,  the  senate,  and  the  people.  Their  solemn 
inauguration  was  performed  at  the  place  of  the  Imperial 
residence  ;  and,  during  a  period  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years,  Rome  was  constantly  deprived  of  the 
presence  of  her  ancient  magistrates.^  On  the  morning 
of  the  first  of  January,  the  consuls  assumed  the  ensigns 
of  their  dignity.  Their  dress  was  a  robe  of  purple, 
embroidered  in  silk  and  gold,  and  sometimes  ornamented 
with  costly  gems.     On  this  solemn  occasion  they  were 

*9  Auso^aius  (in  Gratiarum  Actione)  basely  expatiates  on  this 
unworthy  topic,  which  is  managed  by  Mamertinus  (Panegyr. 
Vet.  xi.  i6,  19)  with  somewhat  more  freedom  and  ingenuity. 

50  From  the  reign  of  Carus  to  the  sixth  consulship  of  Honorius, 
there  was  an  interval  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  years,  during 
which  the  emperors  were  always  absent  from  Rome  on  the  first 
day  of  January. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  186 

attended  by  the  most  eminent  officers  of  the  state  and 
army,  in  the  habit  of  senators  ;  and  the  useless  fasces, 
armed  with  the  once  formidable  axes_,  were  borne 
before  them  by  the  lictors.  The  procession  moved 
from  the  palace  to  the  Forum,  or  principal  square  of 
the  city ;  where  the  consuls  ascended  their  tribunal, 
and  seated  themselves  in  the  curule  chairs,  which  were 
framed  after  the  fashion  of  ancient  times.  They  im- 
mediately exercised  an  act  of  jurisdiction,  by  the 
manumission  of  a  slave,  who  was  brought  before  them 
for  that  purpose  ;  and  the  ceremony  was  intended  to 
represent  the  celebrated  action  of  the  elder  Brutus, 
the  author  of  liberty  and  of  the  consulship,  when  he 
admitted  among  his  fellow-citizens  the  faithful  Vindex, 
who  had  revealed  the  conspiracy  of  the  Tarquins.  The 
public  festival  was  continued  during  several  days  in  all 
the  principal  cities  ;  in  Rome,  from  custom  ;  in  Con- 
stantinople, from  imitation  ;  in  Carthage,  Antioch,  and 
Alexandria,  from  the  love  of  pleasure  and  the  super- 
fluity of  wealth.  In  the  two  capitals  of  empire  the 
annual  games  of  the  theatre,  the  circus,  and  the  amphi- 
theatre,^^ cost  four  thousand  pounds  of  gold,  (about) 
one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  pounds  sterling  :  and 
if  so  heavy  an  expense  surpassed  the  faculties  or  the 
inclination  of  the  magistrates  themselves,  the  sum  was 
supplied  from  the  Imperial  treasury.  As  soon  as  the 
consuls  had  discharged  these  customary  duties,  they 
were  at  liberty  to  retire  into  the  shade  of  private  life, 
and  to  enjoy,  during  the  remainder  of  the  year,  the 
undisturbed  contemplation  of  their  own  greatness. 
They  no  longer  presided  in  the  national  councils ; 
they  no  longer  executed  the  resolutions  of  peace  or 
war.  Their  abilities  (unless  they  were  employed  in 
more  effective  offices)  were  of  little  moment ;  and  their 
names  served  only  as  the  legal   date  of  the  year  in 

51  Claudian  (in  Cons.  Mall.  Theodori,  279-331)  describes,  in 
a  lively  and  fanciful  manner,  the  various  games  of  the  circus, 
the  theatre,  and  the  amphitheatre,  exhibited  by  the  new 
consul.  The  sanguinary  combats  of  gladiators  had  already 
been  prohibited. 


186  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

which  they  had  filled  the  chair  of  Marius  and  of 
Cicero.  Yet  it  was  still  felt  and  acknowledged^  in  the 
last  period  of  Roman  servitude,  that  this  empty  name 
might  be  compared,  and  even  preferred,  to  the  posses- 
sion of  substantial  power.  The  title  of  consul  was  still 
the  most  splendid  object  of  ambition,  the  noblest 
reward  of  virtue  and  loyalty.  The  emperors  them- 
selves, who  disdained  the  faint  shadow  of  the  republic, 
were  conscious  that  they  acquired  an  additional 
splendour  and  majesty  as  often  as  they  assumed  the 
annual  honours  of  the  consular  dignity. ^^ 

The  proudest  and  most  perfect  separation  which  can 
be  found  in  any  age  or  country  between  the  nobles 
and  the  people  is  perhaps  that  of  the  Patricians  and 
the  Plebeians,  as  it  was  established  in  the  first  age 
of  the  Roman  republic.  Wealth  and  honours,  the 
offices  of  the  state,  and  the  ceremonies  of  religion, 
were  almost  exclusively  possessed  by  the  former  ;  who, 
preserving  the  purity  of  their  blood  with  the  most 
insulting  jealousy,^^  held  their  clients  in  a  condition 
of  specious  vassalage.  But  these  distinctions,  so  in- 
compatible with  the  spirit  of  a  free  people,  were  re- 
moved, after  a  long  struggle,  by  the  persevering  efforts 
of  the  Tribunes.  The  most  active  and  successful  of  the 
Plebeians  accumulated  wealth,  aspired  to  honours,  de- 
served triumphs,  contracted  alliances,  and,  after  some 
generations,  assumed  the  pride  of  ancient  nobility." 

■>'  In  Consulatu  honos  sine  labore  suscipitur  (Mamertin.  in 
Panegyr.  Vet.  xi.  2).      This  exalted  idea  of  the  consulship  is  ; 
borrowed  from  an  Oration  (iii.  p.  107)  pronounced  by  Julian  in 
the  servile  court  of  Constantius. 

■^  Intermarriages  between  the  Patricians  and  Plebeians  were 
prohibited  by  the  laws  of  the  XII.  Tables  ;  and  the  uniform 
operations  of  human  nature  may  attest  that  the  custom  survived  ' 
the  law. 

■^  See  the  animated  pictures  drawn  by  Sallust,  in  the  Jugur- 
thine  war,  of  the  pride  of  the  nobles,  and  even  of  the  virtuous 
Metellus,  who  was  unable  to  brook  the  idea  that  the  honour 
of  the  consulship  should  be  bestowed  on  the  obscure  merit  of 
his  lieutenant  Marius  (c.  64).  Two  hundred  years  before,  the 
race  of  the  Metelli   themselves  were   confounded  among  the 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  187 

The  Patrician  families,  on  the  other  hand,  whose 
oriaiual  number  was  never  recruited  till  the  end  of  the 
commonwealth,  either  failed  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
nature,  or  were  extinguished  in  so  many  foreign  and 
domestic  wars,  or,  through  a  want  of  merit  or  fortune, 
insensibly  mingled  with  the  mass  of  the  people.^ 
Very  few  remained  who  could  derive  their  pure  and 
genuine  origin  from  the  infancy  of  the  city,  or  even 
from  that  of  the  republic,  when  Caesar  and  Augustus, 
Claudius  and  Vespasian,  created  from  the  body  of 
the  senate  a  competent  number  of  new  Patrician 
families,  in  the  hope  of  perpetuating  an  order  which 
was  still  considered  as  honourable  and  sacred.^  But 
these  artificial  supplies  (in  which  the  reigning  house 
was  always  included)  were  rapidly  swept  away  by  the 
rage  of  tyrants,  by  frequent  revolutions,  by  the  change 
of  manners,  and  by  the  intermixture  of  nations.""  Little 
more  was  left  when  Constantine  ascended  the  throne 
than  a  vague  and  imperfect  tradition  that  the  Patricians 
had  once  been  the  first  of  the  Romans.     To  form  a 

Plebeians  of  Rome  ;  and  from  the  etymology  of  their  name  of 
CcBcilius,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  those  haughty  nobles 
derived  their  origin  from  a  sutler. 

56  In  the  year  of  Rome  800,  very  few  remained,  not  only  of 
the  old  Patrician  families,  but  even  of  those  which  had  been 
created  by  Csesar  and  Augustus.  The  family  of  Scaurus  (a 
branch  of  the  Patrician  .^Emilii)  was  degraded  so  low  that  his 
father,  who  exercised  the  trade  of  a  charcoal  merchant,  left  him 
only  ten  slaves,  and  somewhat  less  than  three  hundred  pounds 
sterling.  The  family  was  saved  from  oblivion  by  the  merit  of 
the  son. 

56  The  virtues  of  Agricola,  who  was  created  a  Patrician  by 
the  emperor  Vespasian,  reflected  honour  on  that  ancient  order  ; 
but  his  ancestors  had  not  any  claim  beyond  an  equestrian 
nobility. 

67  This  failure  would  have  been  almost  impossible,  if  it 
were  true,  as  Casaubon  compels  Aurelius  Victor  to  affirm 
(ad.  Sueton.  in  Caesar,  c.  42.  See  Hist.  August,  p.  203,  and 
Casaubon,  Comment,  p.  220),  that  Vespasian  created  at  once 
a  thousand  Patrician  families.  But  this  extravagant  number  is 
too  much  even  for  the  whole  senatorial  order,  unless  we  should 
include  all  the  Roman  knights  who  were  distinguished  by  the 
permission  of  wearing  the  laticlave. 


188  THE  DECLINE  AND   FALL 

body  of  nobles,  whose  influence  may  restrain.,  while  it 
secures,  the  authority  of  the  monarch,  would  have 
been  very  inconsistent  with  the  character  and  policy 
of  Constantino  ;  but,  had  he  seriously  entertained  such 
a  design,  it  might  have  exceeded  the  measure  of  his 
power  to  ratify,  by  an  arbitrary  edict,  an  institution 
which  must  expect  the  sanction  of  time  and  of  opinion. 
He  revived,  indeed,  the  title  of  Patricians,  but  he 
revived  it  as  a  personal,  not  as  an  hereditary,  distinction. 
They  yielded  only  to  the  transient  superiority  of  the 
annual  consuls  ;  but  they  enjoyed  the  pre-eminence 
over  all  the  great  officers  of  state,  with  the  most  familiar 
access  to  the  person  of  the  prince.  This  honourable 
rank  was  bestowed  on  them  for  life  ;  and,  as  they  were 
usually  favourites  and  ministers  who  had  grown  old  in 
the  Imperial  court,  the  true  etymology  of  the  word 
was  perverted  by  ignorance  and  flattery ;  and  the 
Patricians  of  Constantino  were  reverenced  as  the 
adopted  Fathers  of  the  emperor  and  the  republic. 

II.  The  fortunes  of  the  Pr<etorian  praefects  were 
essentially  different  from  those  of  the  consuls  and 
Patricians.  The  latter  saw  their  ancient  greatness 
evaporate  in  a  vain  title.  The  former,  rising  by  degrees 
from  the  most  humble  condition,  were  invested  with 
the  civil  and  military  administration  of  the  Roman 
world.  From  the  reign  of  Severus  to  that  of  Diocletian, 
the  guards  and  the  palace,  the  laws  and  the  finances, 
the  armies  and  the  provinces,  were  intrusted  to  their 
superintending  care  ;  and,  like  the  Vizirs  of  the  East, 
they  held  with  one  hand  the  seal,  and  with  the  other 
the  standard,  of  the  empire.  The  ambition  of  the 
prefects,  always  formidable  and  sometimes  fatal  to 
the  masters  whom  they  served,  was  supported  by  the 
strength  of  the  Prsetorian  bands ;  but  after  those 
haughty  troops  had  been  weakened  by  Diocletian,  and 
finally  suppressed  by  Constantino,  the  praefects,  who 
survived  their  fall,  were  reduced  without  difficulty  to 
the  station  of  useful  and  obedient  ministers.  When 
they  were  no  longer  responsible  for  the  safety  of  the 
emperor's  person,  they  resigned  the  jurisdiction  which 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  189 

tliey  had  hitherto  claimed  and  exercised  over  all  the 
departments  of  the  palace.  They  were  deprived  by 
Constantine  of  all  military  command^  as  soon  as  they 
had  ceased  to  lead  into  the  field;,  under  their  immediate 
orders,  the  flower  of  the  Roman  troops  ;  and  at  length, 
by  a  singular  revolution,  the  captains  of  the  guard 
were  transformed  into  the  civil  magistrates  of  the 
provinces.  According  to  the  plan  of  government 
instituted  by  Diocletian,  the  four  princes  had  each 
their  Praetorian  prsefect ;  and,  after  the  monarchy  was 
once  more  united  in  the  person  of  Constantine,  he 
still  continued  to  create  the  same  number  of  four 
PREFECTS,  and  intrusted  to  their  care  the  same 
provinces  which  they  already  administered.  1.  The 
prefect  of  the  East  stretched  his  ample  jurisdiction 
into  the  three  parts  of  the  globe  which  were  subject 
to  the  Romans,  from  the  cataracts  of  the  Nile  to  the 
banks  of  the  Phasis,  and  from  the  mountains  of  Thrace 
to  the  frontiers  of  Persia.  2.  The  important  provinces 
of  Pannonia,  Dacia,  Macedonia,  and  Greece,  once 
acknowledged  the  authority  of  the  prsefect  of  Illyricum. 
3.  The  power  of  the  praefect  of  Italy  was  not  confined 
to  the  country  from  whence  he  derived  his  title  ;  it 
extended  over  the  additional  territory  of  Rhaetia  as 
far  as  the  banks  of  the  Danube,  over  the  dependent 
islands  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  over  that  part  of 
the  continent  of  Africa  which  lies  between  the  confines 
of  Cyrene  and  those  of  Tingitania.  4.  The  praefect  of 
the  Gauls  comprehended  under  that  plural  denomina- 
tion the  kindred  provinces  of  Britain  and  Spain,  and 
his  authority  was  obeyed  from  the  wall  of  Antoninus 
to  the  foot  of  Mount  Atlas. 

After  the  Praetorian  praefects  had  been  dismissed 
from  all  military  command,  the  civil  functions  which 
they  were  ordained  to  exercise  over  so  many  subject 
nations  were  adequate  to  the  ambition  and  abilities 
of  the  most  consummate  ministers.  To  their  wisdom 
was  committed  the  supreme  administration  of  justice 
and  of  the  finances,  the  two  objects  which,  in  a  state 
of  peace,  comprehend  almost  all  the  respective  duties 


190  THE  DECLINE  AND  FALL  a.d. 

of  the  sovereign  and  of  the  people ;  of  the  former,  to 
protect  the  citizens  who  are  obedient  to  the  laws  ;  of 
the  latter,  to  contribute  the  share  of  their  property 
which  is  required  for  the  expenses  of  the  state.  The 
coin,  the  highways,  the  posts,  the  granaries,  the 
manufactures,  whatever  could  interest  the  public 
prosperity  was  moderated  by  the  authority  of  the 
Praetorian  praefects.  As  the  immediate  representatives 
of  the  Imperial  majesty,  they  were  empowered  to 
explain,  to  enforce,  and  on  some  occasions  to  modify, 
the  general  edicts  by  their  discretionary  proclamations. 
They  watched  over  the  conduct  of  the  provincial 
governors,  removed  the  negligent,  and  inflicted  punish- 
ments on  the  guilty.  From  all  the  inferior  jurisdic- 
tions, an  appeal  in  every  matter  of  importance,  either 
civil  or  criminal,  might  be  brought  before  the  tribunal 
of  the  praefect :  but  his  sentence  was  final  and  absolute  ; 
and  the  emperors  themselves  refused  to  admit  any 
complaints  against  the  judgment  or  the  integrity  of  a 
magistrate  whom  they  honoured  with  such  unbounded 
confidence.  His  appointments  were  suitable  to  his 
dignity  ;^  and,  if  avarice  was  his  ruling  passion,  he 
enjoyed  frequent  opportunities  of  collecting  a  rich 
harvest  of  fees,  of  presents,  and  of  perquisites. 
Though  the  emperors  no  longer  dreaded  the  ambition 
of  their  praefects,  they  were  attentive  to  counterbalance 
the  power  of  this  great  office  by  the  uncertainty  and 
shortness  of  its  duration.*^ 

From  their  superior  importance  and  dignity,  Rome 
and  Constantinople  were  alone  excepted  from  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Praetorian  praefects.  The  immense  size 
of  the  city  and  the  experience  of  the  tardy,  ineffectual 
operation    of  the   laws    had    furnished   the   policy    of 

^  When  Justinian,  in  the  exhausted  condition  of  the  empire, 
instituted  a  Praetorian  praefect  for  Africa,  he  allowed  him  a 
salary  of  one  hundred  pounds  of  gold. 

^  For  this,  and  the  other  dignities  of  the  empire,  it  may  be 
sufficient  to  refer  to  the  ample  commentaries  of  Pancirolus  and 
Godefroy,  who  have  diligently  collected  and  accurately  digested 
in  their  proper  order  all  the  legal  and  historical  materials. 


359  OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  191 

Augustus  with  a  specious  pretence  for  introducing  a 
new  magistrate,  who  alone  could  restrain  a  servile  and 
turbulent  populace  by  the  strong  arm  of  arbitrary 
power.  Valerius  Messalla  was  appointed  the  first  pra&- 
fect  of  Rome,  that  his  reputation  might  countenance 
so  invidious  a  measure  :  but,  at  the  end  of  a  few  days, 
that  accomplished  citizen  ^  resigned  his  office,  declaring 
with  a  spirit  worthy  of  the  friend  of  Brutus,  that  he 
found  himself  incapable  of  exercising  a  power  incom- 
patible with  public  freedom.  As  the  sense  of  liberty 
became  less  exquisite,  the  advantages  of  order  were 
more  clearly  understood ;  and  the  praefect,  who  seemed 
to  have  been  designed  as  a  terror  only  to  slaves  and 
vagrants,  was  permitted  to  extend  his  civil  and  criminal 
jurisdiction  over  the  equestrian  and  noble  families  of 
Rome.  The  praetors,  annually  created  as  the  judges  of 
law  and  equity,  could  not  long  dispute  the  possession  of 
the  Forum  with  a  vigorous  and  permanent  magistrate, 
who  was  usually  admitted  into  the  confidence  of  the 
prince.  Their  courts  were  deserted,  their  number, 
which  had  once  fluctuated  between  twelve  and  eighteen, 
was  gradually  reduced  to  two  or  three,  and  their  im- 
portant functions  were  confined  to  the  expensive  obli- 
gation of  exhibiting  games  for  the  amusement  of  the 
people.  After  the  office  of  the  Roman  consuls  had 
been  changed  into  a  vain  pageant,  which  was  rarely 
displayed  in  the  capital,  the  prsefects  assumed  their 
vacant  place  in  the  senate,  and  were  soon  acknowledged 

60  The  fame  of  Messalla  has  been  scarcely  equal  to  his  merit. 
In  the  earliest  youth  he  was  recommended  by  Cicero  to  the 
friendship  of  Brutus.  He  followed  the  standard  of  the  republic 
till  it  was  broken  in  the  fields  of  Philippi :  he  then  accepted  and 
deserved  the  favour  of  the  most  moderate  of  the  conquerors ; 
and  uniformly  asserted  his  freedom  and  dignity  in  the  court  of 
Augustus.  The  triumph  of  Messalla  was  justified  by  the  con- 
quest of  Aquitain.  As  an  orator  he  disputed  the  palm  of 
eloquence  with  Cicero  himself  Messalla  cultivated  every  muse, 
and  v/as  the  patron  of  every  man  of  genius.  He  spent  his 
evenings  in  philosophic  conversation  with  Horace  ;  assumed  his 
place  at  table  between  Delia  and  Tibullus ;  and  amused  his 
leisure  by  encouraging  the  poetical  talents  of  young  Ovid. 


192  THE  DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

as  the  ordinary  presidents  of  that  venerable  assembly. 
They  received  appeals  from  the  distance  of  one  hundred 
miles  ;  and  it  was  allowed  as  a  principle  of  jurispru- 
dence, that  all  municipal  authority  was  derived  from 
them  alone.  In  the  discharge  of  his  laborious  employ- 
ment, the  governor  of  Rome  was  assisted  by  fifteen 
officers,  some  of  whom  had  been  originally  his  equals, 
or  even  his  superiors.  The  principal  departments 
were  relative  to  the  command  of  a  numerous  watch, 
established  as  a  safeguard  against  fires,  robberies,  and 
nocturnal  disorders  ;  the  custody  and  distribution  of 
the  public  allowance  of  corn  and  provisions ;  the  care 
of  the  port,  of  the  aqueducts,  of  the  common  sewers, 
and  of  the  navigation  and  bed  of  the  Tiber ;  the  in- 
spection of  the  markets,  the  theatres,  and  of  the  private 
as  well  as  public  works.  Their  vigilance  ensured  the 
three  principal  objects  of  a  regular  police,  safety, 
plenty,  and  cleanliness  ;  and,  as  a  proof  of  the  atten- 
tion of  government  to  preserve  the  splendour  and 
ornaments  of  the  capital,  a  particular  inspector  was 
appointed  for  the  statues  ;  the  guardian,  as  it  were,  of 
that  inanimate  people,  which,  according  to  the  ex- 
travagant computation  of  an  old  writer,  was  scarcely 
inferior  in  number  to  the  living  inhabitants  of  Rome. 
About  thirty  years  after  the  foundation  of  Constanti- 
nople, a  similar  magistrate  was  created  in  that  rising 
metropolis,  for  the  same  uses,  and  with  the  same 
powers.  A  perfect  equality  was  established  between 
the  dignity  of  the  two  municipal,  and  that  of  IheJ'our 
Praetorian,  praefects.^^ 

Those  who,  in  the  Imperial  hierarchy,  were  dis- 
tinguished by  the  title  of  Respectable,  formed  an  inter- 
mediate class  between  the  illustrious  praefects  and  the 
honourable  magistrates  of  the  provinces.  In  this  class 
the  proconsuls  of  Asia,  Achaia,  and  Africa  claimed  a 

81  Besides  our  usual  guides,  we  may  observe  that  Felix  Cante- 
lorius  has  written  a  separate  treatise,  De  Prrefecto  Urbis ;  and 
that  many  curious  details  concerning  the  police  of  Rome  and 
Constantinople  are  contained  in  the  fourteenth  book  of  the 
Theodosian  Code. 


359  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  193 

pre-eminence^  which  was  yielded  to  the  remembrance 
of  their  ancient  di^-nity  ;  and  the  appeal  from  their 
tribunal  to  that  of  the  praefects  was  almost  the  only 
mark  of  their  dependence.^'-  But  the  civil  govern- 
ment of  the  empire  was  distributed  into  thirteen  great 
DIOCESES,  each  of  which  equalled  the  just  measure  of 
a  powerful  kingdom.  The  first  of  these  dioceses  was 
subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  count  of  the  east; 
and  we  may  convey  some  idea  of  the  importance  and 
variety  of  his  functions,  by  observing  that  six  hundred 
apparitors,  who  would  be  styled  at  present  either 
secretaries,  or  clerks,  or  ushers,  or  messengers,  were 
employed  in  his  immediate  office. °^  The  place  of 
Augusial  prcpfect  of  Egypt  was  no  longer  filled  by 
a  Roman  knight  ;  but  the  name  was  retained  ;  and 
the  extraordinary  powers  which  the  situation  of  the 
country  and  the  temper  of  the  inhabitants  had  once 
made  indispensable  were  still  continued  to  the  governor. 
The  eleven  remaining  dioceses,  of  Asiana,  Pontica, 
and  Thrace  ;  of  Macedonia,  Dacia,  and  Pannonia  or 
Western  lUyricum  ;  of  Italy  and  Africa ;  of  Gaul, 
Spain,  and  Britain  ;  were  governed  by  twelve  vicars 
or  vice-prcefects ,^^  whose  name  sufficiently  explains 
the  nature  and  dependence  of  their  office.  It  may 
be  added  that  the  lieutenant-generals  of  the  Roman 
armies,  the  military  counts  and  dukes,  who  will  be 
liereafter  mentioned,  were  allowed  the  rank  and  title 
of  Respectable. 

As  the  spirit  of  jealousy  and  ostentation  prevailed 
in  the  councils  of  the  emperors,  they  proceeded  with 

^-  Eunapius  affirms  that  the  proconsul  of  Asia  was  inde- 
pendent of  the  prasfect  ;  which  must,  however,  be  tmderstood 
with  some  allowance  :  the  jurisdiction  of  the  vice-prasfect  he 
most  assuredly  disclaimed. 

^  The  proconsul  of  Africa  had  four  hundred  apparitors  ;  and 
they  all  received  large  salaries,  either  from  the  treasuiy  or  the 
\  rovince. 

*^^  In  Italy  there  was  likewise  the  Vicar  of  Rome.  It  has 
h-een  much  disputed,  whether  his  jurisdiction  measured  one 
hundred  miles  from  the  city,  or  whether  it  stretched  over  the 
ten  southern  provinces  of  Italy. 

VOL.  II.  e 


194  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

anxious  diligence  to  divide  the  substance,  and  to 
multiply  the  titles  of  power.  The  vast  countries  which 
the  Roman  conquerors  had  united  under  the  same 
simple  form  of  administration  were  imperceptibly 
crumbled  into  minute  fragments  ;  till  at  length  the 
whole  empire  was  distributed  into  one  hundred  and 
sixteen  provinces,  each  of  which  supported  an  ex- 
pensive and  splendid  establishment.  Of  these,  three 
were  governed  by  proconsuls ,  thirty-seven  by  consulnrs^ 
five  by  correctors,  and  seventy-one  by  presidents.  The 
appellations  of  these  magistrates  were  different  ;  they 
ranked  in  successive  order,  the  ensigns  of  their  dignity 
were  curiously  varied,  and  their  situation,  from  acci- 
dental circumstances,  might  be  more  or  less  agreeable 
or  advantageous.  But  they  were  all  (excepting  only 
the  proconsuls)  alike  included  in  the  class  of  honourable 
persons  ;  and  they  were  alike  intrusted,  during  the 
pleasure  of  the  prince,  and  under  the  authority  of 
the  prsefects  or  their  deputies,  with  the  administration 
of  justice  and  the  finances  in  their  respective  districts. 
The  ponderous  volumes  of  the  Codes  and  Pandects  ^^ 
would  furnish  ample  materials  for  a  minute  inquiry 
into  the  system  of  provincial  government,  as  in  the 
space  of  six  centuries  it  was  improved  by  the  wisdom 
of  the  Roman  statesmen  and  lawyers.  It  may  be 
sufficient  for  the  historian  to  select  two  singular  and 
salutary  provisions  intended  to  restrain  the  abuse  of 
authority.  1.  For  the  preservation  of  peace  and  order, 
the  governors  of  the  provinces  were  armed  with  the 
sword  of  justice.  They  inflicted  corporal  punistmients, 
and  they  exercised,  in  capital  offences,  the  power  of 
life  and  death.  But  they  were  not  authorised  to 
indulge  the  condemned  criminal  with  the  choice  of 
his  own  execution,  or  to  pronounce  a  sentence  of  the 
mildest  and  most   honourable  kind  of  exile.     These 


65  Among  the  works  of  the  celebrated  Ulpian,  there  was  one 
in  ten  books  concerning  the  office  of  a  proconsul,  whose  duties 
in  the  most  essential  articles  were  the  same  as  those  of  an  ordi- 
nary governor  of  a  province. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  195 

prerogatives  were  reserved  to  the  praefects,  who  alone 
could  impose  the  heavy  fine  of  fifty  pounds  of  gold  : 
their  vicegerents  were  confined  to  the  trifling  weight 
of  a  few  ounces.^^  This  distinction^  which  seems  to 
grant  the  larger,  while  it  denies  the  smaller  degree 
of  authority,  was  founded  on  a  very  rational  motive. 
The  smaller  degree  was  infinitely  more  liable  to  abuse. 
The  passions  of  a  provincial  magistrate  might  frequently 
provoke  him  into  acts  of  oppression  which  affected 
only  the  freedom  or  the  fortunes  of  the  subject ; 
though,  from  a  principle  of  prudence,  perhaps  of 
humanity,  he  might  still  be  terrified  by  the  guilt  of 
innocent  blood.  It  may  likewise  be  considered  that 
exile,  considerable  fines,  or  the  choice  of  an  easy  death 
relate  more  particularly  to  the  rich  and  the  noble  ; 
and  the  persons  the  most  exposed  to  the  avarice  or 
resentment  of  a  provincial  magistrate  were  thus  removed 
from  his  obscure  persecution  to  the  more  august  and 
impartial  tribunal  of  the  Praetorian  prsefect.  2.  As  it 
was  reasonably  apprehended  that  the  integrity  of  the 
judge  might  be  biassed,  if  his  interest  was  concerned 
or  his  affections  were  engaged  ;  the  strictest  regula- 
tions were  established  to  exclude  any  person,  without 
the  special  dispensation  of  the  emperor,  from  the 
government  of  the  province  where  he  was  born  ;  and 
to  prohibit  the  governor  or  his  son  from  contracting 
marriage  with  a  native  or  an  inhabitant ;  or  from 
'purchasing  slaves,  lauds,  or  houses,  within  the  extent 
of  his  jurisdiction.  Notwithstanding  these  rigorous 
precautions,  the  emperor  Constantine,  after  a  reign  of 
twenty-five  years,  still  deplores  the  venal  and  oppressive 
administration  of  justice,  and  expresses  the  warmest 
indignation  that  the  audience  of  the  judge,  his  despatch 
of  business,  his  seasonable  delays,  and  his  final  sentence 
were  publicly  sold,  either  by  himself  or  by  the  oflficers 
of  his  court.     The  continuance,  and  perhaps  the  im- 

66  The  presidents,  or  consulars,  could  impose  only  two  ounces ; 
the  vice-prasfects,  three ;  the  proconsuls,  count  of  the  east,  and 
praefect  of  Egypt,  six. 


196  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

punity,  of  tbese  crimes  is  attested  by  the  repetition  of 
important  laws  and  ineffectual  menaces.^'' 

All  the  civil  magistrates  were  drawn  from  the  pro- 
fession of  the  law.  The  celebrated  Institutes  of 
Justinian  are  addressed  to  the  youth  of  his  dominions^ 
who  had  devoted  themselves  to  the  study  of  Roman 
jurisprudence  ;  and  the  sovereign  condescends  to 
animate  their  diligence  by  the  assurance  that  their 
skill  and  ability  would  in  time  be  rew^arded  by  an 
adequate  share  in  the  government  of  the  republic. 
The  rudiments  of  this  lucrative  science  were  taught  in 
all  the  considerable  cities  of  the  east  and  west ;  but 
the  most  famous  school  was  that  of  Berytus,^^  on  the 
coast  of  Pha?nicia ;  which  flourished  above  three 
centuries  from  the  time  of  Alexander  Severus,  the 
author  perhaps  of  an  institution  so  advantageous  to 
his  native  country.  After  a  regular  course  of  educa- 
tion^  which  lasted  five  years,  the  students  dispersed 
themselves  through  the  provinces,  in  search  of  fortune 
and  honours  ;  nor  could  they  want  an  inexhaustible 
supply  of  business  in  a  great  empire,  already  corrupted 
by  the  multiplicity  of  laws,  of  arts,  and  of  vices.  The 
court  of  the  Prjetorian  praefect  of  the  east  could  alone 
furnish  employment  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  ad- 
vocates, 8ixty-four  of  whom  were  distinguished  by 
peculiar  privileges,  and  two  were  annually  chosen  with 
a  salary  of  sixty  pounds  of  gold,  to  defend  the  causes 
of  the  treasury.  The  first  experiment  was  made  of 
their  judicial  talents,  by  appointing  them  to  act 
occasionally  as  assessors  to  the  magistrates  ;  from 
thence  they  were  often  raised  to  preside  in  the  tribunals 
before  which  they  had  pleaded.  They  obtained  the 
government  of  a  province  ;  and,  by  the  aid  of  merit, 

67  Zeno  enacted  that  all  governors  should  remain  in  the  pro- 
vince, to  answer  any  accusations,  fifty  days  after  the  expiration 
of  their  power.     Cod.  Justinian.  1.  ii.  tit.  xlix.  leg.  i. 

68  The  splendour  of  the  school  o^  Berytus,  which  preserved 
in  the  east  the  language  and  jurisprudence  of  the  Romans,  may 
be  computed  to  have  lasted  from  the  third  to  the  middle  of  the 
sixth  century. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  197 

of  reputation,  or  of  favour,  they  asceuded,  by  successive 
steps,  to  the  illustrious  dignities  of  the  state.^^  In  the 
practice  of  the  bar,  these  men  had  considered  reason 
as  the  instrument  of  dispute ;  they  interpreted  the 
laws  according-  to  the  dictates  of  private  interest ;  and 
the  same  pernicious  habits  might  still  adhere  to  their 
characters  in  the  public  administration  of  the  state. 
The  honour  of  a  liberal  profession  has  indeed  been 
vindicated  by  ancient  and  modern  advocates,  who  have 
filled  the  most  important  stations  with  pure  integrity 
and  consummate  wisdom  :  but  in  the  decline  of  Roman 
jurisprudence,  the  ordinary  promotion  of  lawyers  was 
pregnant  with  mischief  and  disgrace.  The  noble  art, 
which  had  once  been  preserved  as  the  sacred  inheritance 
of  the  patricians,  was  fallen  into  the  hands  of  freedmen 
and  plebeians,  who,  with  cunning  rather  than  with 
skill,  exercised  a  sordid  and  pernicious  trade.  Some 
of  them  procured  admittance  into  families  for  the 
purpose  of  fomenting  differences,  of  encouraging  suits, 
and  of  preparing  a  harvest  of  gain  for  themselves  or 
their  brethren.     Others,   recluse  in   their   chambers, 

^9  As  in  a  former  period  I  have  traced  the  civil  and  military 
promotion  of  Pertinax,  I  shall  here  insert  the  civil  honours  of 
Mallius  Theodoras,  i.  He  was  distinguished  by  his  eloquence, 
while  he  pleaded  as  an  advocate  in  the  court  of  the  Praetorian 
praefect.  2.  He  governed  one  of  the  provinces  of  Africa,  either 
as  president  or  consular,  and  deserved,  by  his  administration, 
the  honour  of  a  brass  statue.  3.  He  was  appointed  vicar, 
or  vice-praefect,  of  Macedonia.  4.  Quaestor.  5.  Count  of  the 
sacred  largesses.  6.  Praetorian  praefect  of  the  Gauls  ;  whilst 
he  might  yet  be  represented  as  a  young  man.  7.  After  a 
retreat,  perhaps  a  disgrace,  of  many  years,  which  Mallius  (con- 
founded by  some  critics  with  the  poet  Manilius)  employed  in 
the  study  of  the  Grecian  philosophy,  he  was  named  Praetorian 
praefect  of  Italy,  in  the  year  397.  8.  While  he  still  exercised 
that  great  office,  he  was  created,  in  the  year  399,  consul  for  the 
West ;  and  his  name,  on  account  of  the  infamy  of  his  colleague, 
the  eunuch  Eutropius,  often  stands  alone  in  the  Fasti.  9.  In 
the  year  408,  Mallius  was  appointed  a  second  time  Praetorian 
praefect  of  Italy.  Even  in  the  venal  panegyric  of  Claudian,  we 
may  discover  the  merit  of  Mallius  Theodorus,  who,  by  a  rare 
felicitv,  was  the  intimate  friend  both  of  Symmachus  and  of  St. 
Augustin. 


198  THE   DECLINE   AND  FALL 

maintained  the  dignity  of  legal  professors  by  furnishing 
a  rich  client  with  subtleties  to  confound  the  plainest 
truth  and  with  arguments  to  colour  the  most  unjusti- 
fiable pretensions.  The  splendid  and  popular  class  was 
composed  of  the  advocates^  who  filled  the  Forum  with 
the  sound  of  their  turgid  and  loquacious  rhetoric. 
Careless  of  fame  and  of  justice,  they  are  described, 
for  the  most  part,  as  ignorant  and  rapacious  guides, 
who  conducted  their  clients  through  a  maze  of  expense, 
of  delay,  and  of  disappointment ;  from  whence,  after 
a  tedious  series  of  years,  they  were  at  length  dis- 
missed, when  their  patience  and  fortune  were  almost 
exhausted. 

in.  In  the  system  of  policy  introduced  by  Augustus, 
the  governors,  those  at  least  of  the  Imperial  provinces, 
were  invested  with  the  full  powers  of  the  sovereign 
himself.  Ministers  of  peace  and  war,  the  distribution 
of  rewards  and  punishments  depended  on  them  alone, 
and  they  successively  appeared  on  their  tribunal  in 
the  robes  of  civil  magistracy,  and  in  complete  armour 
at  the  head  of  the  Roman  legionsJ^  The  influence  of 
the  revenue,  the  authority  of  law,  and  the  command 
of  a  military  force  concurred  to  render  their  power 
supreme  and  absolute ;  and  whenever  they  were 
tempted  to  violate  their  allegiance,  the  loyal  province 
which  they  involved  in  their  rebellion  was  scarcely 
sensible  of  any  change  in  its  political  state.  From  the 
time  of  Commodus  to  the  reign  of  Constantine,  near 
one  hundred  governors  might  be  enumerated,  who, 
with  various  success,  erected  the  standard  of  revolt ; 
and  though  the  innocent  were  too  often  sacrificed,  the 
guilty  might  be  sometimes  prevented,  by  the  suspicious 
cruelty  of  their  master.^^     To  secure  his  throne  and 

'0  The  lieutenant  of  Britain  was  intrusted  with  the  same 
powers  which  Cicero,  proconsul  of  Cilicia,  had  exercised  in  the 
name  of  the  senate  and  people. 

71  The  AbW  Dubos,  who  has  examined  with  accuracy  the 
institutions  of  Augustus  and  of  Constantine,  observes  that,  if 
Otho  had  been  put  to  death  the  day  before  he  executed  his 
conspiracy,  Otho  would  now  appear  in  history  as  innocent  as 
Corbulo. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  199 

the  public  tranquillity  from  these  formidable  servants. 
Constantine  resolved  to  divide  the  military  from  the 
civil  administration  ;  and  to  establish^  as  a  perman- 
ent and  professional  distinction,  a  practice  which 
had  been  adopted  only  as  an  occasional  expedient. 
The  supreme  jurisdiction  exercised  by  the  Praetorian 
praefects  over  the  armies  of  the  empire  was  transferred 
to  the  two  masters  general  whom  he  instituted,  the  one 
for  the  cavalry,  the  other  for  the  infantry;  and,  though 
each  of  these  illustriov^  officers  was  more  peculiarly 
responsible  for  the  discipline  of  those  troops  which 
were  under  his  immediate  inspection,  they  both  in- 
differently commanded  in  the  field  the  several  bodies, 
whether  of  horse  or  foot,  which  were  united  in  the 
same  army.  Their  number  was  soon  doubled  by  the 
division  of  the  east  and  west;  and,  as  separate  generals 
of  the  same  rank  and  title  were  appointed  on  the  four 
important  frontiers  of  the  Rhine,  of  the  U]>per  and  the 
Lower  Danube,  and  of  the  Euphrates,  the  defence  of 
the  Roman  empire  was  at  length  committed  to  eight 
masters  general  of  the  cavalry  and  infantry.  Under 
their  orders,  thirty-five  military  commanders  were 
stationed  in  the  provinces  :  three  in  Britain,  six  in 
Gaul,  one  in  Spain,  one  in  Italy,  five  on  the  Upper, 
and  four  on  the  Lower  Danube ;  in  Asia  eight,  three 
in  Egypt,  and  four  in  Africa.  The  titles  of  counts, 
and  dukes,''^  by  which  they  were  properly  distinguished, 
have  obtained  in  modern  languages  so  very  different  a 
sense  that  the  use  of  them  may  occasion  some  surprise. 
But  it  should  be  recollected  that  the  second  of  those 
appellations  is  only  a  corruption  of  the  Latin  word 
which  was  indiscriminately  applied  to  any  military 
chief  All  these  provincial  generals  were  therefore 
dukes;  but  no  more  than  ten  among  them  were  dignified 
with    the    rank    of  counts  or    companions,   a  title   of 

■^  Though  the  military  counts  and  dukes  are  frequently  men- 
tioned, both  in  history  and  the  codes,  we  must  have  recourse 
to  the  Notitia  for  the  exact  knowledge  of  their  number  and 


200  THE   DECLINE  AND   FALL 

honour,  or  rather  of  favour,  which  had  been  recently 
invented  in  the  court  of  Constantine.  A  gold  belt 
was  the  ensign  which  distinguished  the  office  of  the 
counts  and  dukes  ;  and  besides  their  pay,  they  received 
a  liberal  allowance,  sufficient  to  maintain  one  hundred 
and  ninety  servants,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight 
horses.  They  were  strictly  prohibited  from  interfering 
iu  any  matter  which  related  to  the  administration  of 
justice  or  the  revenue  ;  but  the  command  which  they 
exercised  over  the  troops  of  their  department  was 
independent  of  the  authority  of  the  magistrates.  About 
the  same  time  that  Constantine  gave  a  legal  sanction 
to  the  ecclesiastical  order,  he  instituted  in  the  Roman 
empire  the  nice  balance  of  the  civil  and  the  military 
powers.  The  emulation,  and  sometimes  the  discord, 
which  reigned  between  two  professions  of  opposite 
interests  and  incompatible  manners,  was  productive 
of  beneficial  and  of  pernicious  consequences.  It  v^as 
seldom  to  be  expected  that  the  general  and  the  civil 
governor  of  a  province  should  either  conspire  for  the 
disturbance,  or  should  unite  for  the  service,  of  their 
country.  ^Vhile  the  one  delayed  to  offer  the  assistance 
which  the  other  disdained  to  solicit,  the  troops  very 
frequently  remained  without  orders  or  without  sup- 
plies; the  public  safety  was  betrayed,  and  the  de- 
fenceless subjects  were  left  exposed  to  the  fury  of 
the  Barbarians.  The  divided  administration  which 
had  been  formed  by  Constantine  relaxed  the  vigour 
of  the  state,  while  it  secured  the  tranquillity  of  the 
monarch. 

The  memory  of  Constantine  has  been  deservedly 
censured  for  another  innovation,  which  corrupted 
military  discipline  and  prepared  the  ruin  of  the  empire. 
The  nineteen  years  which  preceded  his  final  victory 
over  Licinius  had  been  a  period  of  licence  and  intestine 
war.  The  rivals  who  contended  for  the  possession  of 
the  Roman  world  had  withdrawn  the  greatest  part  of 
their  forces  from  the  guard  of  the  general  frontier  ; 
and  the  principal  cities  which  formed  the  boundary  of 
their  respective   dominions  were  filled  with  soldiers. 


OF  THE   ROMAN    EMPIRE  201 

who  considered  their  countrymen  as  their  most  im- 
placable enemies.  After  the  use  of  these  interna] 
garrisons  had  ceased  with  the  civil  war,  the  conqueror 
wanted  either  wisdom  or  firmness  to  revive  the  severe 
discipline  of  Diocletian^  and  to  suy>[»ress  a  fatal  indul- 
gence which  habit  had  endeared  and  almost  confirmed 
to  the  military  order.  From  the  reiirn  of  Constantine^ 
a  popular  and  even  legal  distinction  was  admitted 
between  the  Palatines'''^  and  the  Hnrdf-rers ;  the  troops 
of  the  court  as  they  were  impri)|)erly  styled,  and  the 
troops  of  the  frontier.  The  former,  elevated  by  the 
superiority  of  their  pay  and  privileges,  were  per- 
mitted, except  in  the  extraordinary  emergencies  of 
war,  to  occupy  their  tranquil  stations  in  the  heart 
of  the  provinces.  The  mo^t  flourishing  cities  were 
oppressed  by  the  intolerable  weiirht  of  quarters.  The 
soldiers  insensibly  forgot  the  virtues  of  their  profession, 
and  contracted  only  the  vices  of  civil  life.  They  were 
either  degraded  by  the  industry  of  mechanic  trades, 
or  enervated  by  the  luxury  of  baths  and  theatres. 
They  soon  became  careless  of  their  martial  exercises, 
curious  in  their  diet  and  apparel  ;  and,  while  they 
inspired  terror  to  the  subjects  of  the  empire,  they 
trembled  at  the  hostile  approach  of  the  Barbarians.^'* 
The  chain  of  fortifications  which  Diocletian  and  his 
colleagues  had  extended  alone:  the  banks  of  the  great 
rivers  was  no  longer  maintained  with  the  same  care 
or  defended  with  the  same  vigilance.  Tlie  numbers 
which  still  remained  under  the  name  of  the  troops 
of  the  frontier  might  be  sufficient  for  the   ordinary 

■3  The  distinction  between  the  two  classes  of  Roman  troops 
is  very  darkly  expressed  in  the  historians,  the  laws,  and  the 
Notitia.  Consult,  however,  the  copious  faratitlon,  or  abstract, 
which  Godefroy  has  drawn  up  of  the  seventh  book,  de  Re 
Militari,  of  the  Theodosian  Code,  1.  vii.  tit.  i.  leg.  18,  1.  viii. 
tit.  i.  leg.  10. 

'^  Ferox  erat  in  suos  miles  et  rapax,  ignavus,  vero  in  hostes 
et  fractus.  Ammian.  1.  xxii.  c.  4.  He  observes  that  they  loved 
downy  beds  and  houses  of  marble  ;  and  that  their  cups  were 
heavier  than  their  swords. 

VOL.   II,  G  2 


202  THE  DECLINE  AND   FALL 

defence.  But  their  spirit  was  degraded  by  the  humi- 
liating- reflection  that  they  who  were  exposed 'to  the 
hardships  and  dangers  of  a  perpetual  warfare  were 
rewarded  only  with  about  two-thirds  of  the  pay  and 
emoluments  which  were  lavished  on  the  troops  of 
the  court.  Even  the  bands  or  legions  that  were  raised 
the  nearest  to  the  level  of  those  unworthy  favourites 
were  in  some  measure  disgraced  by  the  title  of  honour 
which  they  were  allowed  to  assume.  It  was  in  vain 
that  Constantino  repeated  the  most  dreadful  menaces 
of  fire  and  sword  against  the  Borderers  who  should 
dare  to  desert  their  colours^  to  connive  at  the  inroads 
of  the  Barbarians,  or  to  participate  in  the  spoil. 
The  mischiefs  which  flow  from  injudicious  counsels  are 
seldom  removed  by  the  application  of  partial  severities  ; 
and,  though  succeeding  princes  laboured  to  restore 
the  strength  and  numbers  of  the  frontier  garrisons, 
the  empire,  till  the  last  moment  of  its  dissolution, 
continued  to  languish  under  the  mortal  wound  which 
had  been  so  rashly  or  so  weakly  inflicted  by  the  hand 
of  Constantine. 

The  same  timid  policy,  of  dividing  whatever  is 
united,  of  reducing  whatever  is  eminent,  of  dreading 
every  active  power,  and  of  expecting  that  the  most 
feeble  will  prove  the  most  obedient,  seems  to  pervade 
the  institutions  of  several  princes,  and  particularly 
those  of  Constantine.  The  martial  pride  of  the  legions, 
whose  victorious  camps  had  so  often  been  the  scene  of 
rebellion,  was  nourished  by  the  memory  of  their  past 
exploits  and  the  consciousness  of  their  actual  strength. 
As  long  as  they  maintained  their  ancient  establishment 
of  six  thousand  men,  they  subsisted,  under  the  reign 
of  Diocletian,  each  of  them  singly,  a  visible  and  im- 
portant object  in  the  military  history  of  the  Roman 
empire.  A  few  years  afterwards  these  gigantic  bodies 
were  shrunk  to  a  very  diminutive  size ;  and,  when 
seven  legions,  with  some  auxiliaries,  defended  the  city 
of  Amida  against  the  Persians,  the  total  garrison,  with 
the  inhabitants  of  both  sexes,  and  the  peasants  of  the 
deserted  country,  did  not  exceed  the  number  of  twenty 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  203 

thousand  persons.  ^^  From  this  fact,  and  from  similar 
examples,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  legionary  troops,  to  which  they  partly 
owed  their  valour  and  discipline,  was  dissolved  by 
Constantine  ;  and  that  the  bands  of  Roman  infantry, 
which  still  assumed  the  same  names  and  the  same 
honours,  consisted  only  of  one  thousand  or  fifteen 
hundred  men.  The  conspiracy  of  so  many  separate 
detachments,  each  of  which  was  awed  by  the  sense  of 
its  own  weakness,  could  easily  be  checked  ;  and  the 
successors  of  Constantine  might  indulge  their  love  of 
ostentation,  by  issuing  their  orders  to  one  hundred 
and  thirty-two  legions,  inscribed  on  the  muster-roll  of 
their  numerous  armies.  The  remainder  of  their  troops 
was  distributedjiuto  several  hundred  cohorts  of  infantry, 
and  squadrons  of  cavalry.  Their  arms,  and  titles,  and 
ensigns  were  calculated  to  inspire  terror,  and  to  dis- 
play the  variety  of  nations  who  marched  under  the 
Imperial  standard.  And  not  a  vestige  was  left  of  that 
severe  simplicity  which,  in  the  ages  of  freedom  and 
victory,  had  distinguished  the  line  of  battle  of  a  Roman 
army  from  the  confused  host  of  an  Asiatic  monarch. 
A  more  particular  enumeration,  drawn  from  the 
Notitia,  might  exercise  the  diligence  of  an  antiquary ; 
but  the  historian  will  content  himself  with  observing 
that  the  number  of  permanent  stations  or  garrisons 
established  on  the  frontiers  of  the  empire  amounted  to 
five  hundred  and  eighty-three  ;  and  that,  under  the 
successors  of  Constantine,  the  complete  force  of  the 
military  establishm.ent  was  computed  at  six  hundred 
and  forty-five  thousand  soldiers.  An  efl'ort  so  pro- 
digious surpassed  the  wants  of  a  more  ancient,  and  the 
faculties  of  a  later,  period. 

In  the  various  states  of  society,  armies  are  recruited 
from  very  different  motives.  Barbai-ians  are  urged  by 
the  love  of  war  ;  the  citizens  of  a  free  republic  may  be 

75  Aramian.  1.  xix.  c.  2.  He  observes  (c.  5),  that  the  desperate 
sallies  of  two  Gallic  legions  were  like  an  handful  of  water  thrown 
on  a  great  conflagration. 


204  THE  DECLINE  AND   FALL 

prompted  by  a  principle  of  duty  ;  the  subjects,  or  at 
least  the  nobles,  of  a  monarchy  are  animated  by  a 
sentiment  of  honour;  but  the  timid  and  luxurious 
inhabitants  of  a  declining  empire  must  be  allured  into 
the  service  by  the  hopes  of  profit,  or  compelled  by  the 
dread  of  punishment.  The  resources  of  the  Roman 
treasury  were  exhausted  by  the  increase  of  pay,  by  the 
repetition  of  donatives,  and  by  the  invention  of  new 
emoluments  and  indulgences,  which,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  provincial  youth,  might  compensate  the  hardships 
and  dangers  of  a  military  life.  Yet,  although  the 
stature  was  lowered/^  although  slaves,  at  least  by  a 
tacit  connivance,  were  indiscriminately  received  into 
the  ranks,  the  insurmountable  difficulty  of  procuring 
a  regular  and  adequate  supply  of  volunteers  obliged 
the  emperors  to  adopt  more  effectual  and  coercive 
methods.  Tlie  lands  bestowed  on  the  veterans,  as  the 
free  reward  of  their  valour,  were  henceforward  granted 
under  a  condition,  which  contains  the  first  rudiments 
of  the  feudal  tenures  ;  that  their  sons,  who  succeeded 
to  the  inheritance,  should  devote  themselves  to  the 
profession  of  arms,  as  soon  as  they  attained  the  age  of 
manhood  ;  and  their  cowardly  refusal  was  punished 
by  the  loss  of  honour,  of  fortune,  or  even  of  life.^" 
But,  as  the  annual  growth  of  the  sons  of  the  veterans 
bore  a  very  small  proportion  to  the  demands  of  the 
service,  levies  of  men  were  frequently  required  from 
the  provinces,  and  every  proprietor  was  obliged  either 
to  take  up  arms,  or  to  procure  a  substitute,  or  to 
purchase  his  exemption  by  the  payment  of  a  heavy 
fine.     The  sum  of  forty-two  pieces  of  gold,  to  which 

76  Valentinian  (Cod.  Theodos,  1.  vii.  tit.  xiii.  leg.  3)  fixes  the 
standard  at  five  feet  seven  inches,  about  five  feet  four  inches 
and  a  half  English  measure.  It  had  formerly  been  five  feet  ten 
inches,  and  in  the  best  corps  six  Roman  feet. 

77  See  the  two  titles,  De  Veteranis,  and  De  Filiis  Veteranorum, 
in  the  seventh  book  of  the  Theodosian  Code.  The  age  at  which 
their  military  service  was  required  varied  from  twenty-five  to 
sixteen.  If  the  sons  of  the  veterans  appeared  with  a  horse,  they 
had  a  right  to  serve  in  the  cavalry ;  two  horses  gave  them  some 
valuable  privileges. 


i 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  205 

it  was  reduced,  ascertains  the  exorbitant  price  of 
volunteers  and  the  reluctance  with  which  the  govern- 
ment admitted  of  this  alternative."*  Such  was  the 
liorror  for  the  profession  of  a  soldier  which  had  affected 
the  minds  of  the  degenerate  Romans  that  many  of  the 
vouth  of  Italy  and  the  provinces  chose  to  cut  off  the 
ringers  of  their  right  hand  to  escape  from  being  pressed 
into  the  service  ;  and  this  strange  expedient  was  so 
commonly  practised  as  to  deserve  the  severe  aniuiad- 
version  of  the  laws"^  and  a  peculiar  name  in  the  Latin 
language.'^ 

The  introduction  of  Barbarians  into  the  Roman 
armies  became  every  day  more  universal,  more  neces- 
sary, and  more  fatal.  The  most  daring  of  the  Scythians, 
of  the  Goths,  and  of  the  Germans,  who  delighted  in 
war,  and  who  found  it  more  profitable  to  defend  than 
to  ravage  the  provinces,  were  enrolled,  not  only  in 
the  auxiliaries  of  their  respective  nations,  but  in  the 
legions  themselves,  and  among  the  most  distinguished 
of  the  Palatine  troops.  As  they  freely  mingled  with 
the  subjects  of  the  empire,  they  gradually  learned  to 

■^8  According  to  the  historian  Socrates  (see  Godefroy  ad.  loc), 
the  same  emperor  Valens  sometimes  required  eighty  pieces  of 
gold  for  a  recruit.  In  the  following  law  it  is  faintly  expressed 
that  slaves  shall  not  be  admitied  inter  optimas  lectissimorum 
militum  turmas. 

■^9  The  person  and  property  of  a  Roman  knight,  who  had 
mutilated  his  two  sons,  were  sold  by  public  auction  by  the 
order  of  Augustus.  The  moderation  of  that  artful  usurper 
proves  that  this  example  of  severity  was  justified  by  the  spirit 
of  the  times.  Ammianus  makes  a  distinction  between  the 
effeminate  Italians  and  the  hardy  Gauls.  Yet  only  fifteen  years 
afterwards,  Valentinian,  in  a  law  addressed  to  the  prsefect  of 
Gaul,  is  obliged  to  enact  that  these  cowardly  deserters  shall 
be  burnt  alive.  Their  numbers  in  Illyricum  were  so  consider- 
able that  the  province  complained  of  a  scarcity  of  recruits 
(id.  leg.  lo). 

^  They  were  called  Murci.  Murcidus  is  found  in  Plautus 
and  Festus,  to  denote  a  lazy  and  cowardly  person,  who,  accord- 
ing to  Arnobius  and  Augustin,  was  under  the  immediate  pro- 
tection of  the  goddess  Murcia.  From  this  particular  instance 
of  cowardice,  murcare  is  used  as  synonymous  to  mutilare,  by 
the  writers  of  the  middle  Latinity. 


206  THE  DECLINE   AND  FALL 

despise  their  manners  and  to  imitate  their  arts.  They 
abjured  the  implicit  reverence  which  the  pride  of 
Rome  had  exacted  from  their  ignorance^  while  they 
acquired  the  knowledge  and  possession  of  those  ad- 
vantages by  which  alone  she  supported  her  declining 
greatness.  The  Barbarian  soldiers  who  displayed  any 
military  talents  were  advanced^  without  exception,  to 
the  most  important  commands ;  and  the  names  of  the 
tribunes,  of  the  counts  and  dukes,  and  of  the  generals 
themselves,  betray  a  foreign  origin,  which  they  no 
longer  condescended  to  disguise.  They  were  often 
entrusted  with  the  conduct  of  a  war  against  their 
countrymen  ;  and,  though  most  of  them  preferred  the 
ties  of  allegiance  to  those  of  blood,  they  did  not 
always  avoid  the  guilt,  or  at  least  the  suspicion,  of 
holding  a  treasonable  correspondence  with  the  enemy, 
of  inviting  his  invasion,  or  of  sparing  his  retreat. 
The  camps  and  the  palace  of  the  son  of  Constantine 
were  governed  by  the  powerful  faction  of  the  Franks, 
who  preserved  the  strictest  connection  with  each  other 
and  with  their  country,  and  who  resented  every  personal 
affront  as  a  national  indignity.  When  the  tyrant 
Caligula  was  suspected  of  an  intention  to  invest  a  very 
extraordinary  candidate  with  the  consular  robes,  the 
sacrilegious  profanation  would  have  scarcely  excited 
less  astonishment,  if,  instead  of  a  horse,  the  noblest 
chieftain  of  Germany  or  Britain  had  been  the  object 
of  his  choice.  The  revolution  of  three  centuries  had 
produced  so  remarkable  a  change  in  the  prejudices  of 
the  people  that,  with  the  public  approbation,  Constan- 
tine showed  his  successors  the  example  of  bestowing 
the  honours  of  the  consulship  on  the  Barbarians  who, 
by  their  merit  and  services,  had  deserved  to  be  ranked 
among  the  first  of  the  Romans,  ^^     But  as  these  hardy 

81  Eusebius  (in  Vit.  Constantin.  1.  iv.  c.  7)  and  Aurelius 
Victor  seem  to  confirm  the  truth  of  this  assertion ;  yet  in  the 
thirty-two  consular  Fasti  of  the  reign  of  Constantine  I  cannot 
discover  the  name  of  a  single  Barbarian.  I  should  therefore 
interpret  the  liberality  of  that  prince,  as  relative  to  the  orna- 
ments, rather  than  to  the  ofnce,  of  the  consulship. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  207 

veterans,  who  had  heen  educated  in  the  ignorance  or 
contempt  of  the  laws,  were  incapable  of  exercising-  any 
civil  offices,  the  powers  of  the  human  mind  were  con- 
tracted by  the  irreconcilable  separation  of  talents  as 
well  as  of  professions.  The  accomplished  citizens  of 
the  Greek  and  Roman  republics,  whose  characters 
could  adapt  themselves  to  the  bar,  the  senate,  the 
camp,  or  the  schools,  had  learned  to  write,  to  speak, 
and  to  act,  with  the  same  spirit,  and  with  equal 
abilities. 

IV.  Besides  the  magistrates  and  generals,  who  at  a 
distance  from  the  court  diffused  their  delegated  autho- 
rity over  the  provinces  and  armies,  the  emperor  con- 
ferred the  rank  of  Illustrious  on  seven  of  his  more 
immediate  servants,  to  whose  fidelity  he  entrusted 
his  safety,  or  his  counsels,  or  his  treasures.  1.  The 
private  apartments  of  the  j)alace  were  governed  by  a 
favourite  eunuch,  who,  in  the  language  of  that  age, 
was  styled  the  prcepositus  or  pra?fect  of  the  sacred  bed- 
chamber. His  duty  was  to  attend  the  emperor  in  his 
hours  of  state,  or  in  those  of  amusement,  and  to 
perform  about  his  person  all  those  menial  services 
which  can  only  derive  their  splendour  from  the  influ- 
ence of  royalty.  Under  a  prince  who  deserved  to 
reign,  the  great  chamberlain  (for  such  we  may  call 
him)  was  an  useful  and  humble  domestic  ;  but  an  artful 
domestic,  who  improves  every  occasion  of  unguarded 
confidence,  will  insensibly  acquire  over  a  feeble  mind 
that  ascendant  which  harsh  wisdom  and  uncomplying 
virtue  can  seldom  obtain.  The  degenerate  grandsons 
of  Theodosius,  who  were  invisible  to  their  subjects  and 
contemptible  to  their  enemies,  exalted  the  prsefects  of 
their  bed-chamber  above  the  heads  of  all  the  ministers 
of  the  palace ;  and  even  his  deputy,  the  first  of  the 
splendid  train  of  slaves  who  waited  in  the  presence, 
was  thought  worthy  to  rank  before  the  respectable 
proconsuls  of  Greece  or  Asia.  The  jurisdiction  of 
the  chamberlain  was  acknowledged  by  the  counts, 
or  superintendents,  who  regulated  the  two  impor- 
tant  provinces  of  the  magnificence   of  tjie  wardrobe 


208  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

and  of  the  luxury  of  the  Imperial  table.^^  2.  The 
principal  administration  of  public  affairs  was  com- 
mitted to  the  dilig-euce  and  abilities  of  the  master  of 
the  oj/ices,^^  He  was  tlie  supreme  magistrate  of  the 
palace,  inspected  the  discipline  of  the  civil  and  military 
schools,  and  received  appeals  from  all  parts  of  the 
empire  ;  in  the  causes  which  related  to  that  numerous 
army  of  privileged  persons  who,  as  the  servants  of  the 
court,  had  obtained,  for  themselves  and  families,  a 
right  to  decline  tiie  authority  of  the  ordinary  judges. 
The  correspondence  between  the  prince  and  his  subjects 
was  managed  by  the  four  scrinia  or  offices  of  this 
minister  of  state.  The  first  was  appropriated  to  memo- 
rials, the  second  to  epistles,  the  third  to  petitions,  and 
the  fourth  to  pa})ers  and  orders  of  a  miscellaneous 
kind.  Each  of  these  was  directed  by  an  inferior  master 
of  respectable  dignity,  and  the  whole  business  was  des- 
patched by  an  liundre*!  and  forty-eight  secretaries, 
chosen  for  the  most  part  from  the  profession  of  the 
law,  on  account  of  the  variety  of  abstracts  of  reports 
and  references  whicfi  frequently  occurred  in  the  exer- 
cise of  their  several  functions.  From  a  condescension, 
which  in  former  ages  would  have  been  esteemed  un- 
worthy of  the  Roman  majesty,  a  particular  secretary 
was  allowed  for  the  Cireek  language  ;  and  interpreters 
were  appointed  to  receive  the  ambassadors  of  the 
Barbarians :    but   the   department   of    foreign   affairs, 

82  By  a  very  singular  metaphor,  borrowed  from  the  military 
character  of  the  first  emperors,  the  steward  of  their  household 
was  styled  the  count  of  iiieir  camp  (comes  castrensis).  Cassio- 
dorius  very  seriously  represents  to  him  that  his  own  fame,  and 
that  of  the  empire,  must  depend  on  the  opinion  which  foreign 
ambassadors  may  conceive  of  the  plenty  and  magnificence  of 
the  royal  table. 

83  Gutherius  (de  Officiis  Domils  Augustse,  1.  ii.  c.  20,  1.  iii.) 
has  very  accurately  ex|>lained  the  functions  of  the  master  of  the 
offices  and  the  constitution  o;  his  subordinate  scrinia.  But  he 
vainly  attempts,  on  the  most  doubtful  authority,  to  deduce  from 
the  time  of  the  Anionines,  or  even  of  Nero,  the  origin  of  a 
magistrate  who  cannot  be  found  in  history  before  the  reign  of 
Constantine. 


OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  209 

-w^hich  constitutes  so  essential  a  part  of  modern  policy, 

seldom  diverted  the  attention  of  the  master  of  the 
offices.  His  mind  was  more  seriously  engaged  by  the 
general  direction  of  the  posts  and  arsenals  of  the 
empire.  There  were  thirty-four  cities,  fifteen  in  the 
east,  and  nineteen  in  the  west,  in  which  regular 
companies  of  workmen  were  perpetually  employed  in 
fabricating  defensive  armour,  offensive  weapons  of  all 
sorts,  and  military  engines,  which  were  deposited  in 
the  arsenals,  and  occasionally  delivered  for  the  service 
of  the  troops.  3.  In  the  course  of  nine  centuries,  the 
office  of  qactstor  had  experienced  a  very  singular 
revolution.  In  the  infancy  of  Rome,  two  inferior 
magistrates  were  annually  elected  by  the  people,  to 
relieve  the  consuls  from  the  invidious  management  of 
the  public  treasure  ;  ^^  a  similar  assistant  was  granted 
to  every  proconsul,  and  to  every  praetor,  who  exercised 
a  military  or  provincial  command  ;  with  the  extent  of 
conquest,  the  two  quaestors  were  gradually  multiplied 
to  the  number  of  four,  of  eight,  of  twenty,  and,  for  a 
short  time,  perhaps,  of  forty  ;  ^^  and  the  noblest  citizens 
ambitiously  solicited  an  office  which  gave  them  a  seat 
in  the  senate,  and  a  just  hope  of  obtaining  the  honours 
of  the  republic,  ^\'hilst  Augustus  affected  to  maintain 
the  freedom  of  election,  he  consented  to  accept  the 
annual  privilege  of  recommending,  or  rather  indeed 
of  nominating,  a  certain  proportion  of  candidates ; 
and  it  was  his  custom,  to  select  one  of  these  distin- 
guished youths,  to  read  his  orations  or  epistles  in  the 
assemblies   of  the  senate.     The  practice  of  Augustus 

^  Tacitus  (Annal.  xi.  22)  says  that  the  first  quaestors  were 
elected  by  the  people,  sixty-four  years  after  the  foundation  of 
the  republic  ;  but  he  is  of  opinion  that  they  had,  long  before 
that  period,  been  annually  appointed  by  the  consuls,  and  even 
by  the  kings.  But  this  obscure  point  of  antiquity  is  contested 
by  other  writers. 

85  Tacitus  seems  to  consider  twenty  as  the  highest  number 
of  qucestors ;  and  Dion,  insinuates  that,  if  the  dictator  Caesar 
once  created  forty,  it  was  only  to  facilitate  the  payment  of  an 
immense  debt  of  gratitude.  Yet  the  augmentation  which  he 
made  of  praetors  subsisted  under  the  succeeding  reigns. 


210  THE   DECLINE  AND   FALL 

was  imitated  by  succeeding  princes ;  the  occasional 
commission  was  established  as  a  permanent  office ; 
and  the  favoured  quaestor,  assuming  a  new  and  more 
illustrious  character,  alone  survived  the  suppression  of 
his  ancient  and  useless  colleagues.  ^^  As  the  orations 
which  he  composed  in  the  name  of  the  emperor  ^^  ac- 
quired the  force,  and,  at  length,  the  form  of  absolute 
edicts,  he  was  considered  as  the  representative  of  the 
legislative  power,  the  oracle  of  the  council,  and  the 
original  source  of  the  civil  jurisprudence.  He  was 
sometimes  invited  to  take  his  seat  in  the  supreme 
judicature  of  the  Imperial  consistory,  with  the  Prae- 
torian praefects,  and  the  master  of  the  offices  ;  and  he 
was  frequently  requested  to  resolve  the  doubts  of 
inferior  judges  ;  but,  as  he  was  not  oppressed  with  a 
variety  of  subordinate  business,  his  leisure  and  talents 
were  employed  to  cultivate  that  dignified  style  of  elo- 
quence which,  in  the  corruption  of  taste  and  language, 
still  preserves  the  majesty  of  the  Roman  laws.  In 
some  respects,  the  office  of  the  Imperial  quaestor  may 
be  compared  with  that  of  a  modern  chancellor ;  but 
tlie  use  of  a  great  seal,  which  seems  to  have  been 
adopted  by  the  illiterate  Barbarians,  was  never  intro- 
duced to  attest  the  public  acts  of  the  emperors.  4. 
The  extraordinary  title  of  count  of  the  sacred  largesses 

86  The  youth  and  inexperience  of  the  quaestors,  who  entered 
on  that  important  office  in  their  twenty-fifth  year,  engaged 
Augustus  to  remove  them  from  the  management  of  the  treasury; 
and,  though  they  were  restored  by  Claudius,  they  seem  to  have 
been  finally  dismissed  by  Nero.  In  the  provinces  of  the  Im- 
perial division,  the  place  of  the  quaestors  was  more  ably  sup- 
plied by  the  procurators ;  or,  as  they  were  afterwards  called, 
rationales.  But  in  the  provinces  of  the  senate  we  may  still 
discover  a  series  of  qucestors  till  the  reign  of  Marcus  Antoninus. 
From  Ulpian  we  may  learn  (Pandect.  1.  i.  tit.  13)  that,  under 
the  government  of  the  house  of  Severus,  their  provincial  ad- 
ministration was  abolished  ;  and  in  the  subsequent  troubles  the 
annual  or  triennial  elections  of  quaestors  must  have  naturally 
ceased. 

S"  The  office  must  have  acquired  new  dignity,  which  was  occa- 
sionally executed  by  the  heir-apparent  of  the  empire.  Trajan 
entrusted  the  same  care  to  Hadrian  his  quaestor  and  cousin. 


OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE  211 

was  bestowed  on  the  treasurer-general  of  the  revenue, 
with  the  intention  perhaps  of  inculcating  that  every 
payment  flowed  from  the  voluntary  bounty  of  the 
monarch.  To  conceive  the  almost  infinite  detail  of 
the  annual  and  daily  expense  of  the  civil  and  military 
administration  in  every  part  of  a  great  empire  would 
exceed  the  powers  of  the  most  vigorous  imagination. 
The  actual  account  employed  several  hundred  persons, 
distributed  into  eleven  different  offices,  which  were 
artfully  contrived  to  examine  and  control  their  re- 
spective operations.  The  multitude  of  these  agents 
had  a  natural  tendency  to  increase  ;  and  it  was  more 
than  once  thought  expedient  to  dismiss  to  their  native 
homes  the  useless  supernumeraries,  who,  deserting 
their  honest  labours,  had  pressed  with  too  much  eager- 
ness into  the  lucrative  profession  of  the  finances. 
Twenty-nine  pro\'incial  receivers,  of  whom  eighteen 
were  honoured  with  the  title  of  count,  corresponded 
with  the  treasurer  ;  and  he  extended  his  jurisdiction 
over  the  mines,  from  whence  the  precious  metals  were 
extracted,  over  the  mints,  in  which  they  were  con- 
verted into  the  current  coin,  and  over  the  public 
treasuries  of  the  most  important  cities,  where  they 
were  deposited  for  the  service  of  the  state.  The 
foreign  trade  of  the  empire  was  regulated  by  this 
minister,  who  directed  likewise  all  the  linen  and 
woollen  manufactures,  in  which  the  successive  opera- 
tions of  spinning,  weaving,  and  dyeing  were  executed, 
chiefly  by  women  of  a  servile  condition,  for  the  use 
of  the  palace  and  army.  Twenty-six  of  these  institu- 
tions are  enumerated  in  the  west,  where  the  arts  had 
been  more  recently  introduced,  and  a  still  larger 
proportion  may  be  allowed  for  the  industrious  pro- 
vinces of  the  east.^^     5.  Besides  the  public  revenue, 

88  In  the  departments  of  the  two  counts  of  the  treasury,  the 
eastern  part  of  the  Notitia  happens  to  be  very  defective.  It 
may  be  observed  that  we  had  a  treasury-chest  in  London,  and 
a  gyneceum  or  manufacture  at  Winchester.  But  Britain  was 
not  thought  worthy  either  of  a  mint  or  of  an  arsenal.  Gaul 
alone  possessed  three  of  the  former,  and  eight  of  the  latter. 


212  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

whicli  an  absolute  monarch  might  levy  and  expend 
according  to  his  pleasure,  the  emperors,  in  the  capacity 
of  opulent  citizens,  possessed  a  very  extensive  property, 
which  was  administered  by  the  count,  or  treasurer,  of 
the  private  estate.  Some  part  had  perhaps  been  the 
ancient  demesnes  of  kings  and  republics  ;  some  ac- 
cessions might  be  derived  from  the  families  which 
were  successively  invested  with  the  purple  ;  but  the 
most  considerable  portion  flowed  from  the  impure 
source  of  confiscations  and  forfeitures.  The  Imperial 
estates  were  scattered  through  the  provinces,  from 
Mauritania  to  Britain  ;  but  the  rich  and  fertile  soil 
of  Cappadocia  tempted  the  monarch  to  acquire  in  that 
country  his  fairest  possessions,  and  either  Constantine 
or  his  successors  embraced  the  occasion  of  justifying 
avarice  by  religious  zeal.  They  suppressed  the  rich 
temple  of  Comana,  where  the  high  priest  of  the 
goddess  of  war  suf)ported  the  dignity  of  a  sovereign 
prince  ;  and  they  applied  to  their  private  use  the  con- 
secrated lands,  which  were  inhabited  by  six  thousand 
subjects  or  slaves  of  the  Deity  and  her  ministers.^^ 
But  these  were  not  the  valuable  inhabitants  ;  the  plains 
that  stretch  from  the  foot  of  Mount  Argseus  to  the 
banks  of  the  Sarus  bred  a  generous  race  of  horses, 
renowned  above  all  others  in  the  ancient  world 
for 'their  majestic  shape  and  incomparable  swiftness. 
These  sacred  animals,  destined  for  the  service  of  the 
palace  and  the  Imperial  games,  were  protected  by  the 
laws  from  the  profanation  of  a  vulgar  master.^     The 

8*  The  other  temple  of  Comana,  in  Pontus,  was  a  colony 
from  that  of  Cappadocia.  The  president  Des  Brosses  (see  his 
Saluste,  torn.  ii.  p.  21)  conjectures  that  the  deity  adored  in  both 
Coraanas  was  Beliis,  the  Venus  of  the  east,  the  goddess  of 
generation ;  a  very  different  being  indeed  from  the  goddess  of 
war. 

^  Godefroy  has  collected  every  circumstance  of  antiquity 
relative  to  the  Cappadocian  horses.  One  of  the  finest  breeds, 
the  Palmatian,  was  the  forfeiture  of  a  rebel,  whose  estate  lay 
about  sixteen  miles  from  Tyana,  near  the  great  road  between 
Constantinople  and  Antioch. 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  213 

demesnes  of  Cappadocia  were  importaut  enough  to 
require  the  inspection  of  a  count  i'-'^  officers  of  an  in- 
ferior rank  were  stationed  in  the  other  parts  of  the 
empire  ;  and  the  deputies  of  the  private,  as  well  as 
those  of  the  public,  treasurer  were  maintained  in  the 
exercise  of  their  independent  functions,  and  encouraged 
to  control  the  authority  of  the  provincial  magistrates. 
6,  7.  The  chosen  bands  of  cavalry  and  infantry  which 
guarded  the  person  of  the  emperor,  were  under  the 
immediate  command  of  the  tu-o  counts  of  the  domestics. 
The  whole  number  consisted  of  tliree  thousand  five 
hundred  men,  divided  into  seven  schools,  or  troops,  of 
tive  hundred  each  ;  and  in  the  east,  this  honourable  ser- 
vice was  almost  entirely  appropriated  to  the  Armenians. 
Whenever,  on  public  ceremonies,  they  were  drawn  up 
in  the  courts  and  porticoes  of  the  palace,  their  lofty 
stature,  silent  order,  and  splendid  arms  of  silver  and 
gold  displayed  a  martial  pomp,  not  unworthy  of  the 
Roman  majesty.  From  the  seven  schools  two  com- 
panies of  horse  and  foot  were  selected,  of  the  protec- 
tors, whose  advantageous  station  was  the  hope  and 
reward  of  the  most  deserving  soldiers.  They  mounted 
guard  in  the  interior  apartments,  and  were  occasionally 
despatched  into  the  provinces  to  execute  with  celerity 
and  vigour  the  orders  of  their  master. '^^  The  counts 
of  the  domestics  had  succeeded  to  the  office  of  the 
Praetorian  praefects  ;  like  the  praefects,  they  aspired 
from  the  [service  of  the  palace  to  the  command  of 
armies. 

The  perpetual  intercourse  between  the  court  and 
the  provinces  was  facilitated  by  the  construction  of 
roads  and  the  institution  of  posts.  But  these  bene- 
ficial establishments  were  accidentally  connected  with 
a   pernicious   and    intolerable   abuse.     Two    or    three 

91  Justinian  subjected  the  province  of  the  count  of  Cappa- 
docia to  the  immediate  authority  of  the  favourite  eunuch  who 
presided  over  the  sacred  bed-chamber, 

92  Ammianus  MarcelHnus,  who  served  so  many  years,  ob- 
tained only  the  rank  of  a  Protector.  The  first  ten  among  these 
honourable  soldiers  were  Clarissitni. 


214  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

hundred  agents  or  messengers  were  employed,  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  master  of  the  offices,  to  announce 
the  names  of  the  annual  consuls  and  the  edicts  or 
victories  of  the  emperors.  They  insensibly  assumed 
the  licence  of  reporting  whatever  they  could  observe 
of  the  conduct  either  of  magistrates  or  of  private 
citizens ;  and  were  soon  considered  as  the  eyes  of  the 
monarch,  and  the  scourge  of  the  people,  tinder  the 
warm  influence  of  a  feeble  reign,  they  multiplied  to 
the  incredible  number  of  ten  thousand,  disdained  the 
mild  though  frequent  admonitions  of  the  laws,  and 
exercised  in  the  profitable  management  of  the  posts  a 
rapacious  and  insolent  oppression.  These  official  spies, 
who  regularly  corresponded  with  the  palace,  were  en- 
couraged, by  favour  and  reward,  anxiously  to  watch 
the  progress  of  every  treasonable  design,  from  the 
faint  and  latent  symptoms  of  disaffection  to  the  actual 
preparation  of  an  open  revolt.  Their  careless  or 
criminal  violation  of  truth  and  justice  was  covered  by 
the  consecrated  mask  of  zeal ;  and  they  might  securely 
aim  their  poisoned  arrows  at  the  breast  either  of  the 
guilty  or  the  innocent,  who  had  provoked  their  resent- 
ment or  refused  to  purchase  their  silence.  A  faithful 
subject,  of  Syria  perhaps,  or  of  Britain,  was  exposed 
to  the  danger,  or  at  least  to  the  dread,  of  being  dragged 
in  chains  to  the  court  of  Milan  or  Constantinople, 
to  defend  his  life  and  fortune  against  the  malicious 
charge  of  these  privileged  informers.  The  ordinary 
administration  was  conducted  by  those  methods  which 
extreme  necessity  can  alone  palliate  ;  and  the  defects 
of  evidence  were  diligently  supplied  by  the  use  of 
torture. 

The  deceitful  and  dangerous  experiment  of  the 
criminal  question,  as  it  is  emphatically  styled,  was 
admitted,  rather  than  approved,  in  the  jurisprudence 
of  the  Romans.  They  applied  this  sanguinary  mode 
of  examination  only  to  servile  bodies,  whose  sufferings 
were  seldom  weighed  by  those  haughty  republicans  in 
the  scale  of  justice  or  humanity  :  but  they  would  never 
consent  to  violate  the  sacred  person  of  a  citizen,  till 


OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  215 

they  possessed  the  clearest  evidence  of  his  guilt ^^  The 
annals  of  tyranny,  from  the  reign  of  Tiberius  to  that 
of  Domitian,  circumstantially  relate  the  executions  of 
many  innocent  victims  ;  but,  as  long  as  the  faintest 
remembrance  was  kept  alive  of  the  national  freedom 
and  honour,  the  last  hours  of  a  Roman  were  secure 
from  the  danger  of  ignominious  torture.^^  The  conduct 
of  the  provincial  magistrates  was  not,  however,  regu- 
lated by  the  practice  of  the  city  or  the  strict  maxims 
of  the' civilians.  They  found  the  use  of  torture 
established,  not  only  among  the  slaves  of  oriental 
despotism,  but  among  the  Macedonians,  who  obeyed  a 
limited  monarch  ;  among  the  Rhodians,  who  flourished 
by  the  liberty  of  commerce  ;  and  even  among  the  sage 
Athenians,  who  had  asserted  and  adorned  the  dignity 
of  human  kind.  The  acquiescence  of  the  provincials 
encouraged  their  governors  to  acquire,  or  perhaps  to 
usurp,  a  discretionary  power  of  employing  the  rack, 
to  extort  from  vagrants  or  plebeian  criminals  the 
confession  of  their  g-uilt,  till  they  insensibly  proceeded 
to  confuund  the  distinction  of  rank  and  to  disregard 
the  pri\aleges  of  Roman  citizens.  The  apprehensions 
of  the  subjects  urged  them  to  solicit,  and  the  interest 
of  the  sovereign  engatred  him  to  grant,  a  variety  of 
special  exemptions,  which  tacitly  allowed,  and  even 
authorised,  the  general  use  of  torture.  They  protected 
all  persons  of  illustrious  or  honourable  rank,  bishops 
and  their  presbyters,  professors  of  the  liberal  arts, 
soldiers  and  their  families,  municipal  officers,  and 
their  posterity  to  the  third  generation,  and  all 
children    under    the    age    of    puberty.      But    a    fatal 

83  The  Pandects  (1.  xlviii.  tit.  xviii.)  contain  the  sentiments 
of  the  most  celebrated  civilians  on  the  subject  of  torture.  They 
strictly  confine  it  to  slaves  ;  and  Ulpian  himself  is  ready  to 
acknowledge  that  Res  est  fragilis,  et  periculosa,  et  quae  veritatem 
fallat. 

94  In  the  conspiracy  of  Piso  against  Nero,  Epicharis  (libertina 
mulier)  was  the  only  person  tortured  ;  the  rest  were  intacti 
tormeniis.  It  would  be  superfluous  to  add  a  weaker,  and  it 
would  be  difBcult  to  f.nd  a  stronger,  examole. 


216  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL 

maxim  was  introduced  into  the  new  jurisprudence  of 
the  empire,  that  in  the  case  of  treason,  which  included 
every  offence  that  the  subtlety  of  lawyers  could  derive 
from  an  hostile  intention  towards  tlie  prince  or  republic,^^ 
all  privileges  were  suspended,  and  all  conditions  were 
reduced  to  the  same  ignominious  level.  As  the  safety 
of  the  emperor  was  avowedly  preferred  to  every  con- 
sideration of  justice  or  humanity,  the  dignity  of  age 
and  the  tenderness  of  youth  were  alike  exposed  to 
the  most  cruel  tortures  ;  and  the  terrors  of  a  malicious 
information,  which  might  select  them  as  the  accom- 
plices, or  even  as  the  witnesses,  perhaps,  of  an  imaginary 
crime,  perpetually  hung  over  the  heads  of  the  principal 
citizens  of  the  Roman  world. ^^ 

These  evils,  however  terrible  they  may  appear,  were 
confined  to  the  smaller  number  of  Roman  subjects, 
whose  dangerous  situation  was  in  some  degree  com- 
pensated by  the  enjoyment  of  those  advantages,  either 
of  nature  or  of  fortune,  which  exposed  them  to  the 
jealousy  of  the  monarch.  The  obscure  millions  of  a 
great  empire  have  much  less  to  dread  from  the  cruelty 
than  from  the  avarice  of  their  masters  ;  and  their 
humble  happiness  is  principally  affected  by  the  griev- 
ance of  excessive  taxes,  which,  gently  pressing  on  the 
wealthy,  descend  with  accelerated  weight  on  the  meaner 
and  more  indigent  classes  of  society.  An  ingenious 
philosopher  has  calculated  the  universal  measure  of 
the  public  impositions  by  the  degrees  of  freedom  and 
servitude  ;  and  ventures  to  assert  that,  according  to 
an  invariable  law  of  nature,  it  must  always  increase 
with  the  former,  and  diminish  in  a  just  proportion  to 
the  latter.     But  this  reflection,  which  would  tend  to 

°5  This  definition  of  the  sage  Ulpian  (Pandect.  1.  xlviii.  tit. 
iv.)  seems  to  have  been  adapted  to  the  court  of  Caracalla 
rather  than  to  that  of  Alexander  Severus. 

^6  Arcadius  Charisius  is  the  oldest  lawyer  quoted  in  tlie 
Pandects  to  justify  the  universal  practice  of  torture  in  all  cases 
of  treason  ;  but  this  maxim  of  tyranny,  which  is  admitted  by 
Ammianus  (1.  xix.  c.  12)  with  the  most  respectful  terror,  is  en- 
forced by  several  laws  of  the  successors  of  Constantino. 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  217 

alleviate  the  miseries  of  despotism,  is  contradicted  at 
least  by  the  history  of  the  Roman  empire  ;  which 
accuses  the  same  princes  of  despoiling  the  senate  of  its 
authority  and  the  provinces  of  their  wealth.  Without 
abolishing  all  the  various  customs  and  duties  on 
merchandises,  which  are  imperceptibly  discharged  by 
the  apparent  choice  of  the  purchaser,  the  policy  of 
Constantine  and  his  successors  preferred  a  simple  and 
direct  mode  of  taxation,  more  congenial  to  the  spirit 
of  an  arbitrary  government. 

The  name  and  use  of  the  indictions ,^^  which  serve 
to  ascertain  the  chronology  of  the  middle  ages,  was 
derived  from  the  regular  practice  of  the  Roman 
tributes.^^  The  emperor  subscribed  with  his  own 
hand,  and  in  purple  ink,  the  solemn  edict,  or  indic- 
tion,  which  was  fixed  up  in  the  principal  city  of  each 
diocese  during  two  months  previous  to  the  first  day 
of  September.  And,  by  a  very  easy  connection  of 
ideas,  the  word  indiction  was  transferred  to  the  measure 
of  tribute  which  it  prescribed,  and  to  the  annual  term 
which  it  allowed  for  the  payment.  This  general 
estimate  of  the  supplies  was  proportioned  to  the  real 
and  imaginary  wants  of  the  state  ;  but,  as  often  as  the 
expense  exceeded  the  revenue,  or  the  revenue  fell 
short  of  the  computation,  an  additional  tax,  under  the 
name  of  superindiction,  was  imposed  on  the  people, 
and  the  most  valuable  attribute  of  sovereignty  was 
communicated  to  the  Praetorian  praefects,  who,  on 
some  occasions,  were  permitted  to  provide  for  the 
unforeseen  and  extraordinary  exigencies  of  the  public 

97  The  cycle  of  indictions,  which  may  be  traced  as  high  as 
the  reign  of  Constantius,  or  perhaps  of  his  father  Constantine, 
is  still  employed  by  the  papal  court :  but  the  commencement 
of  the  year  has  been  very  reasonably  altered  to  the  first  of 
January. 

98  The  first  twenty-eight  titles  of  the  eleventh  book  of  the 
Theodosian  Code  are  filled  with  the  circumstantial  regulations 
on  the  important  subject  of  tributes ;  but  they  suppose  a 
clearer  knowledge  of  fundamental  principles  than  it  is  at 
present  in  our  power  to  attain. 


218  THE   DECLINE  AND  FALL 

service.  The  execution  of  these  laws  (which  it  would 
be  tedious  to  pursue  in  their  minute  and  intricate 
detail)  consisted  of  two  distinct  operations ;  the  re- 
solving the  general  imposition  into  its  constituent 
parts,  which  were  assessed  on  the  provinces,  the  cities, 
and  the  individuals  of  the  Roman  world,  and  the 
collecting  the  separate  contributions  of  the  individuals, 
the  cities,  and  the  provinces,  till  the  accumulated  sums 
were  poured  into  the  Imperial  treasuries.  But,  as  the 
account  between  the  monarch  and  the  subject  was 
perpetually  open,  and  as  the  renewal  of  the  demand 
anticipated  the  perfect  discharge  of  the  preceding 
obligation,  the  weighty  machine  of  the  finances  was 
moved  by  the  same  hands  round  the  circle  of  its 
yearly  revolution.  Whatever  was  honourable  or  im- 
portant in  the  administration  of  the  revenue  was 
committed  to  the  wisdom  of  the  praefects  and  their 
provincial  representatives ;  the  lucrative  functions 
were  claimed  by  a  crowd  of  subordinate  officers,  some 
of  whom  depended  on  the  treasurer,  others  on  the 
governor  of  the  province  ;  and  who,  in  the  inevitable 
conflicts  of  a  perplexed  jurisdiction,  had  frequent 
opportunities  of  disputing  with  each  other  the  spoils 
of  the  people.  The  laborious  offices,  which  could  be 
productive  only  of  envy  and  reproach,  of  expense  and 
danger,  were  imposed  on  the  Decurions,  who  formed 
the  corporations  of  the  cities,  and  whom  the  severity 
of  the  Imperial  laws  had  condemned  to  sustain  the 
burthens  of  civil  society. ^^  The  whole  landed  property 
of  the  empire  (without  excepting  the  patrimonial 
estates  of  the  monarch)  was  the  object  of  ordinary 
taxation ;  and  every  new  purchaser  contracted  the 
obligations  of  the  former  proprietor.  An  accurate 
census,  or   survey,   was   the   only  equitable  mode  of 

89  The  title  concerning  the  Decurions  (1.  xii,  tit.  i.)  is  the 
most  ample  in  the  whole  Theodosian  Code ;  since  it  contains 
not  less  than  one  hundred  and  ninety-two  distinct  laws  to 
ascertain  the  duties  and  privileges  of  that  useful  order  of 
citizens. 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  219 

ascertaining  the  proportion  which  every  citizen  should 
be  ohliared  to  contribute  for  the  public  service  ;  and 
from  the  well-known  period  of  the  indictions  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  this  difficult  and  expensive 
operation  was  repeated  at  the  regular  distance  of 
fifteen  years.  The  lands  were  measured  by  surveyors^ 
who  were  sent  into  the  provinces ;  their  nature, 
whether  arable  or  pasture,  or  vineyards  or  woods,  was 
distinctly  reported  ;  and  an  estimate  was  made  of  their 
common  value  from  the  average  produce  of  five  years. 
TTie  numbers  of  slaves  and  of  cattle  constituted  an 
essential  part  of  the  report  ;  an  oath  was  administered 
to  the  proprietors,  which  bound  them  to  disclose  the 
true  state  of  their  affairs  ;  and  their  attempts  to  pre- 
varicate, or  elude  the  intention  of  the  legislator,  were 
severely  watched,  and  punished  as  a  capital  crime 
which  included  the  double  guilt  of  treason  and  sac- 
rilege. A  large  portion  of  the  tribute  was  paid  in 
money  ;  and  of  the  current  coin  of  the  empire,  gold 
alone  could  be  legally  accepted.  The  remainder  of 
the  taxes,  according  to  the  proportions  determined  by 
the  annual  indiction,  was  furnished  in  a  manner  still 
more  direct,  and  still  more  oppressive.  According  to 
the  different  nature  of  lands,  their  real  produce,  in 
the  various  articles  of  wine  or  oil,  corn  or  barley,  wood 
or  iron,  was  transported  by  the  labour  or  at  the  expense 
of  the  provincials  to  the  Imperial  magazines,  from 
whence  they  were  occasionally  distributed,  for  the  use 
of  the  court,  of  the  army,  and  of  the  two  capitals, 
Rome  and  Constantinople.  The  commissioners  of  the 
revenue  were  so  frequently  obliged  to  make  consider- 
able purchases  that  they  were  strictly  prohibited  from 
allowing  any  compensation  or  from  receiving  in  money 
the  value  of  those  supplies  which  were  exacted  in  kind. 
In  the  primitive  simplicity  of  small  communities,  this 
method  may  be  well  adapted  to  collect  the  almost 
voluntary  offerings  of  the  people  ;  but  it  is  at  once 
susceptible  of  the  utmost  latitude  and  of  the  utmost 
strictness,  which  in  a  corrupt  and  absolute  monarchy 
m.ust  introduce  a  perpetual  contest  between  the  power 


220  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL 

of  oppression  and  the  arts  of  fraud. ^'^  The  agriculture 
of  the  Roman  provinces  was  insensibly  ruined,  and,  in 
the  progress  of  despotism,  which  tends  to  disappoint 
its  own  purpose,  the  emperors  were  obliged  to  derive 
some  merit  from  the  forgiveness  of  debts,  or  the  re- 
mission of  tributes,  which  their  subjects  were  utterly 
incapable  of  paying.  According  to  the  new  division 
of  Italy,  the  fertile  and  happy  province  of  Campania, 
the  scene  of  the  early  victories  and  of  the  delicious 
retirements  of  the  citizens  of  Rome,  extended  between 
the  sea  and  the  Apennine  from  the  Tiber  to  the  Silarus. 
Within  sixty  years  after  the  death  of  Constantine,  and 
on  the  evidence  of  an  actual  survey,  an  exemption  was 
granted  in  favour  of  three  hundred  and  thirty  thousand 
English  acres  of  desert  and  uncultivated  land  ;  which 
amounted  to  one-eighth  of  the  whole  surface  of  the 
province.  As  the  footsteps  of  the  Barbarians  had  not 
yet  been  seen  in  Italy,  the  cause  of  this  amazing 
desolation,  which  is  recorded  in  the  laws,  can  be 
ascribed  only  to  the  administration  of  the  Roman 
emperors.i^^ 

Either  from  design  or  from  accident,  the  mode  of 
assessment  seemed  to  unite  the  substance  of  a  land-tax 
witli  the  forms  of  a  capitation. ^"-'^  The  returns  which 
were  sent  of  every  province  or  district  expressed  the 

100  Some  precautions  were  taken  to  restrain  the  magistrates 
from  the  abuse  of  their  authority,  either  in  the  exaction  or  in 
the  purchase  of  corn  :  but  those  who  had  learning  enough  to 
read  the  orations  of  Cicero  against  Verres  (iii,  de  Frumento) 
might  instruct  themselves  in  all  the  various  acts  of  oppression, 
with  regard  to  the  weight,  the  price,  the  quality,  and  the 
carriage.  The  avarice  of  an  unlettered  governor  would  supply 
the  ignorance  of  precept  or  precedent. 

101  Cod.  Theod.  1.  xi.  tit.  xxviii.  leg.  2,  published  the  24th  of 
March,  a.d.  395,  by  the  emperor  Honoriixs,  only  two  months 
after  the  death  of  his  father  Theodosius.  He  speaks  of  528,042 
Roman  jugera,  which  I  have  reduced  to  the  English  measure. 
The  jugemm  contained  28,800  square  Roman  feet. 

102  Godefroy  (Cod.  Theod.  tom.  vi.  p.  116)  argues  with 
weight  and  learning  on  the  subject  of  the  capitation ;  but, 
while  he  explains  the  caput  as  a  share  or  measure  of  property, 
he  too  absolutely  excludes  the  idea  of  a  personal  assessment. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  221 

number  of  tributary  subjects  and  the  amount  of  the 
public  impositions.  The  latter  of  these  sums  was 
divided  by  the  former  ;  and  the  estimate^  that  such  a 
province  contained  so  many  capita,  or  heads  of  tribute, 
and  that  each  head  was  rated  at  such  a  price,,  was 
universally  received^  not  only  in  the  popular,  but  even 
in  the  leg-al  computation.  The  value  of  a  tributary 
head  must  have  varied,  according  to  many  acciden- 
tal, or  at  least  fluctuating,  circumstances  ;  but  some 
knowledge  has  been  preserved  of  a  very  curious  fact, 
the  more  important,  since  it  relates  to  one  of  the 
richest  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  which 
now  flourishes  as  the  most  splendid  of  the  European 
kingdoms.  Tlie  rapacious  ministers  of  Constantius  had 
exhausted  the  wealth  of  Gaul,  by  exacting  twenty-five 
pieces  of  gold  for  the  annual  tribute  of  every  head. 
The  humane  policy  of  his  successor  reduced  the  capita- 
tion to  seven  pieces.  A  moderate  proportion  between 
these  opposite  extremes  of  extravagant  oppression  and 
of  transient  indulgence  may  therefore  be  fixed  at  sixteen 
pieces  of  gold,  or  about  nine  pounds  sterling,  the 
common  standard  perhaps  of  the  impositions  of  Gaul.^*'^ 
But  this  calculation,  or  rather  indeed  the  facts  from 

103  In  the  calculation  of  any  sum  of  money  under  Constan- 
tine  and  his  successors,  we  need  only  refer  to  the  excellent 
discourse  of  Mr.  Greaves  on  the  Denarius  for  the  proof  of  the 
following  principles  :  i.  That  the  ancient  and  modern  Roman 
pound,  containing  5256  grains  of  Troy  weight,  is  about  one- 
twelfth  lighter  than '^the  English  pound,  which  is  composed  of 
5760  of  the  same  grains.  2.  That  the  pound  of  gold,  which 
had  once  been  divided  into  forty-eight  aurei,  was  at  this  time 
coined  into  seventy-two  smaller  pieces  of  the  same  denomina- 
tion. 3.  That  five  of  these  aurei  were  the  legal  tender  for  a 
pound  of  silver,  and  that  consequently  the  pound  of  gold  was 
exchanged  for  fourteen  pounds  eight  ounces  of  silver  according 
to  the  Roman,  or  about  thirteen  pounds  according  to  the 
English,  weight.  4.  That  the  English  pound  of  silver  is 
coined  into  sixty-two  shillings.  From  these  elements  we  may 
compute  the  Roman  pound  of  gold,  the  usual  method  of 
reckoning  large  sums,  at  forty  pounds  sterling ;  and  we  may  fix 
the  currency  of  the  aureus  at  somev/hat  more  than  eleven 
shillings. 


222  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

whence  it  is  deduced,  cannot  fail  of  suggestluj^  two 
difficulties  to  a  thinking  mind,  who  will  be  at  once 
surprised  by  the  equality  and  by  the  enormity  of  the 
capitation.  An  attempt  to  explain  them  may  perhaps 
reflect  some  light  on  the  interesting  subject  of  the 
finances  of  the  declining  empire. 

L  It  is  obvious  that,  as  long  as  the  immutable  con- 
stitution of  human  nature  produces  and  maintains  so 
unequal  a  division  of  property,  the  most  numerous 
part  of  the  community  would  be  deprived  of  their  sub- 
sistence by  the  equal  assessment  of  a  tax  from  which 
the  sovereign  would  derive  a  very  trifling  revenue. 
Such  indeed  might  be  the  theory  of  the  Roman  capita- 
tion ;  but  in  the  practice,  this  unjust  equality  was  no 
longer  felt,  as  the  tribute  was  collected  on  the  principle 
of  a  real,  not  of  a  personal,  imposition.  Several  in- 
digent citizens  contributed  to  compose  a  single  head, 
or  share  of  taxation  ;  while  the  wealthy  provincial,  in 
proportion  to  his  fortune,  alone  represented  several  of 
those  imaginary  beings.  In  a  poetical  request,  ad- 
dressed to  one  of  the  last  and  most  deserving  of  the 
Roman  princes  who  reigned  in  Gaul,  Sidonius  Apolli- 
naris  personifies  his  tribute  under  the  figure  of  a  triple 
monster,  the  Geryon  of  the  Grecian  fables,  and  entreats 
the  new  Herculesthat  he  would  mostgraciously  be  pleased 
to  save  his  life  by  cutting  off  three  of  his  heads.  The 
fortune  of  Sidonius  far  exceeded  the  customary  wealth 
of  a  poet ;  but,  if  he  had  pursued  the  allusion,  he  must 
have  painted  many  of  the  Gallic  nobles  with  the  hundred 
heads  of  the  deadly  Hydra  spreading  over  the  face  of 
the  country  and  devouring  the  substance  of  an  hundred 
families.  II.  The  difficulty  of  allowing  an  annual  sum 
of  about  nine  pounds  sterling,  even  for  the  average  of 
the  capitation  of  Gaul,  may  be  rendered  more  evident 
by  the  comparison  of  the  present  state  of  the  same 
country,  as  it  is  now  governed  by  the  absolute  monarch 
of  an  industrious,  wealthy,  and  affectionate  people. 
The  taxes  of  France  cannot  be  magnified,  either  by 
fear  or  by  flattery,  beyond  the  annual  amount  of 
eighteen  millions  sterling,  which  ought  perhaps  to  be 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  223 

shared  among  four  and  twenty  millions  of  inhabitants.^^ 
Seven  millions  of  these^  in  the  capacity  of  fathers  or 
brothers  or  husbands^  may  discharge  the  obligations  of 
the  remaining  multitude  of  women  and  children  ;  yet 
the  equal  proportion  of  each  tributary  subject  will 
scarcely  rise  above  fifty  shillings  of  our  money^  instead 
of  a  proportion  almost  four  times  as  considerable, 
which  was  regularly  imposed  on  their  Gallic  ancestors. 
The  reason  of  this  difference  may  be  found,  not  so 
much  in  the  relative  scarcity  or  plenty  of  gold  and 
silver,  as  in  the  different  state  of  society  in  ancient 
Gaul  and  in  modern  France.  In  a  country  where 
personal  freedom  is  the  privilege  of  every  subject,  the 
whole  mass  of  taxes,  whether  they  are  levied  on  pro- 
perty or  on  consumption,  may  be  fairly  divided  among 
the  whole  body  of  the  nation.  But  the  far  greater 
part  of  the  lauds  of  ancient  Gaul,  as  well  as  of  the 
other  provinces  of  the  Roman  world,  were  cultivated 
by  slaves,  or  by  peasants  whose  dependent  condition 
was  a  less  rigid  servitude.  In  such  a  state  the  poor 
were  maintained  at  the  expense  of  the  masters,  who 
enjoyed  the  fruits  of  their  labour  ;  and,  as  the  rolls 
of  tribute  were  filled  only  with  the  names  of  those 

lO'i  This  assertion,  however  formidable  it  may  seem,  is 
founded  on  the  original  registers  of  births,  deaths,  ;and 
marriages,  collected  by  public  authority,  and  now  deposited  in 
the  Co7itr6le  Giniral  at  Paris.  The  annual  average  of  births 
throughout  the  whole  kingdom,  taken  in  five  years  (from  1770 
to  1774,  both  inclusive),  is  479,649  boys  and  449,269  girls,  in  all 
928,918  children.  The  province  of  French  Hainault  alone  fur- 
nishes 9906  births  :  and  we  are  assured,  by  an  actual  enumera- 
tion of  the  people,  annually  repeated  from  the  year  1773  to  the 
year  1776,  that,  upon  an  average,  Hainault  contains  257,097 
inhabitants.  By  the  rules  of  fair  analogy,  we  might  infer  that 
the  ordinary  proportion  of  annual  births  to  the  whole  people,  is 
about  I  to  26 ;  and  that  the  kingdom  of  France  contains 
24,151,868  persons  of  both  sexes  and  of  every  age.  If  we  content 
ourselves  with  the  more  moderate  proportion  of  i  to  25,  the  whole 
population  will  amount  to  23,222,950.  From  the  diligent  re- 
searches of  the  French  government  (which  are  not  unworthy  of 
our  own  imitation),  we  may  hope  to  obtain  a  still  greater  degree 
of  certainty  on  this  important  subject. 


224  THE   DECLINE  AND   FALL 

citizens  who  possessed  the  means  of  an  honourable, 
or  at  least  of  a  decent,  subsistence,  the  comparative 
sraallness  of  their  numbers  explains  and  justifies  the 
high  rate  of  their  capitation.  The  truth  of  this  asser- 
tion may  be  illustrated  by  the  following-  example  : 
The  ^dui,  one  of  the  most  powerful  and  civilised 
tribes  or  cities  of  Gaul,  occupied  an  extent  of  territory 
which  now  contains  above  five  hundred  thousand  in- 
habitants in  the  two  ecclesiastical  dioceses  of  Autun 
and  Nevers  :  ^^^  and  with  the  probable  accession  of  those 
of  Chalons  and  Macon, ^^  the  population  would  amount 
to  eight  hundred  thousand  souls.  In  the  time  of 
Constantine,  the  territory  of  the  iEdui  afforded  no 
more  than  twenty-five  thousand  heads  of  capitation, 
of  whom  seven  thousand  were  discharged  by  that  prince 
from  the  intolerable  weight  of  tribute.  A  just  analogy 
would  seem  to  countenance  the  opinion  of  an  ingenious 
historian,  that  the  free  and  tributary  citizens  did  not 

los  The  ancient  jurisdiction  of  [Aug-ustodunum)  Autun  in  Bur- 
gundy, the  capital  of  the  ^dui,  comprehended  the  adjacent  terri- 
tory of  {Noviodunum)  Nevers.  The  two  dioceses  of  Autun  and 
Nevers  are  now  composed,  the  former  of  6io,  and  the  latter  of 
i6o,  parishes.  The  registers  of  births,  taken  during  eleven  years, 
in  476  parishes  of  the  same  province  of  Burgundy,  and  multiplied 
by  the  moderate  proportion  of  25  (see  Messance,  Recherches  sur 
la  Population,  p.  142),  may  authorise  us  to  assign  an  average 
nvimber  of  656  persons  for  each  parish,  which  being  again 
multiplied  by  the  770  parishes  of  the  diocese  of  Nevers  and 
Autun  will  produce  the  sum  of  505,120  persons  for  the  extent  of 
country  which  was  once  possessed  by  the  ^dui. 

106  We  might  derive  an  additional  supply  of  301,750  inhabi- 
tants from  the  dioceses  of  Chalons  [Cabillomim]  and  of  Macon 
{Matisco) ;  since  they  contain,  the  one  200,  and  the  other  260, 
parishes.  This  accession  of  territory  might  be  justified  by  very 
specious  reasons,  i,  Chalons  and  Macon  were  undoubtedly 
within  the  original  jurisdiction  of  the  ^dui.  2.  In  the  Notitia 
of  Gaul,  they  are  enumerated  not  as  Civiiates,  but  merely 
as  Custra.  3.  They  do  not  appear  to  have  been  episcopal 
seats  before  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries.  Yet  there  is  a 
passage  in  Eumenius  (Panegyr.  Vet.  viii.  7)  which  very  forcibly 
deters  me  from  extending  the  territory  of  the  ^dui,  in  the 
reign  of  Constaniine,  along  the  beautiful  banks  of  the  navigable 
Saone. 


OF   THE    ROMAN   EMPIRE  226 

surpass  the  number  of  half  a  million  ;  and  if,  in  the 
ordinary  administration  of  government^  their  annual 
payments  may  be  computed  at  about  four  millions  and 
a  half  of  our  money^  it  would  appear  that,  although 
the  share  of  each  individual  was  four  times  as  con- 
siderable, a  fourth  part  only  of  the  modern  taxes  of 
France  was  levied  on  the  Imperial  province  of  Gaul, 
llie  exactions  of  Constantius  may  be  calculated  at 
seven  millions  sterling,  which  were  reduced  to  two 
millions  by  the  humanity  or  the  wisdom  of  Julian. 

But  this  tax  or  capitation  on  the  proprietors  of  land 
would  have  suffered  a  rich  and  numerous  class  of  free 
citizens  to  escape.  AMth  the  view  of  sharing  that 
species  of  wealth  which  is  derived  from  art  or  labour,  and 
which  exists  in  money  or  in  merchandise,  the  emperors 
imposed  a  distinct  and  personal  tribute  on  the  trading 
part  of  their  subjects.  Some  exemptions,  very  strictly 
confined  both  in  time  and  place,  were  allowed  to  the 
proprietors  who  disposed  of  the  produce  of  their  own 
estates.  Some  indulgence  was  granted  to  the  pro- 
fession of  the  liberal  arts  :  but  every  other  branch  of 
commercial  industry  was  affected  by  the  severity  of  the 
law.  The  honourable  merchant  of  Alexandria,  who 
imported  the  gems  and  spices  of  India  for  the  use  of 
the  western  world  ;  the  usurer,  who  derived  from  the 
interest  of  money  a  silent  and  ignominious  profit ;  the 
ingenious  manufacturer,  the  diligent  mechanic,  and 
even  the  most  obscure  retailer  of  a  sequestered  village, 
were  obliged  to  admit  the  officers  of  the  revenue  into 
the  partnership  of  their  gain  :  and  the  sovereign  of  the 
Roman  empire,  who  tolerated  the  profession,  consented 
to  share  the  infamous  salary,  of  public  prostitutes.  As 
this  general  tax  upon  industry  was  collected  every 
fourth  year,  it  was  styled  the  Lustra!  Contrihution  :  and 
the  historian  Zosimus  laments  that  the  approach  of 
the  fatal  period  was  announced  by  the  tears  and  terrors 
of  the  citizens,  who  were  often  compelled  by  the  im- 
pending scourge  to  embrace  the  most  abhorred  and 
unnatural  methods  of  procuring  the  sum  at  which  their 
property  had  been  assessed.    The  testimony  of  Zosimus 

VOL.   II.  jj 


226  THE   DECLINE  AND  FALL 

cannot  indeed  be  justified  from  the  charge  of  passion 
and  prejudice  ;  but,  from  the  nature  of  this  tribute_,  it 
seems  reasonable  to  conclude  that  it  was  arbitrary  in 
the  distribution,  and  extremely  rigorous  in  the  mode 
of  collecting.  The  secret  wealth  of  commerce,  and  the 
precarious  profits  of  art  or  labour,  are  susce])tible  only 
of  a  discretionary  valuation,  which  is  seldom  dis- 
advantageous to  the  interest  of  the  treasury  ;  and,  as 
the  person  of  the  ti'ader  supplies  the  want  of  a  visible 
and  permanent  security,  the  payment  of  the  imposition, 
which,  in  the  case  of  a  land-tax,  may  be  obtained  by  tht 
seizure  of  property,  can  rarely  be  extorted  by  any 
other  means  than  those  of  corporal  punishments.  The 
cruel  treatment  of  the  insolvent  debtors  of  the  state  is 
attested,  and  was  perhaps  mitigated,  by  a  very  humane 
edict  of  Constantino,  who,  disclaiming  the  use  of  racks 
and  of  scourges,  allots  a  spacious  and  airy  prison  for 
the  place  of  their  confinement. 

These  general  taxes  were  imposed  and  levied  by  the 
absolute  authority  of  the  monarch  ;  but  the  occasional 
offerings  of  the  coronary  gold  still  retained  the  name 
and  semblance  of  j)opular  consent.  It  was  an  ancient 
custom  that  the  allies  of  the  republic,  who  ascribed 
their  safety  or  deliverance  to  the  success  of  the  Roman 
arms  ;  and  even  the  cities  of  Italy,  who  admired  the 
virtues  of  their  victorious  general  ;  adorned  the  pomp 
of  his  triumph  by  their  voluntary  gifts  of  crowns  of 
gold,  which,  after  the  ceremony,  were  consecrated  in 
the  temple  of  Jupiter,  to  remain  a  lasting  monument 
of  his  glory  to  future  ages.  The  progress  of  zeal  iiud 
flattery  soon  multiplied  the  number,  and  increased  the 
size,  of  these  popular  donations  ;  and  the  triumph  of 
Cajsar  was  enriched  with  two  thousand  eiij-ht  hundred 
and  twenty-two  massy  crowns,  wliose  weight  amounted 
to  twenty  thousand  four  hundred  and  fourteen  pounds 
of  gold.  This  treasure  was  immediately  melted  down 
by  the  prudent  dictator,  who  was  satisfied  that  it  would 
be  more  serviceable  to  his  soldiers  than  to  the  gods  : 
his  example  was  imitated  by  his  successors  ;  and  the 
custom   was  introduced  of  exchanging  these  splendid 


OF  THE    llOxMAN   EMPIRE  227 

oruameuts  for  the  more  acceptable  present  of  the 
current  g-old  coin  of  the  empire, ^<^''  The  spontaneous 
offering  was  at  length  exacted  as  the  debt  of  duty  ; 
and,  instead  of  being  confined  to  the  occasion  of  a 
triumph,  it  was  supposed  to  be  granted  by  the  several 
cities  and  provinces  of  the  monarchy  as  often  as  the 
emperor  condescended  to  announce  his  accession,  his 
consulship,  the  birth  of  a  son,  the  creation  of  a  C»sar, 
a  victory  over  the  Barbarians,  or  any  other  real  or 
imaginary  event  which  graced  the  annals  of  his  reign. 
The  peculiar  free  gift  of  the  senate  of  Rome  was  fixed 
by  custom  at  sixteen  hundred  pounds  of  gold,  or  about 
sixty-four  thousand  pounds  sterling.  The  oppressed 
subjects  celebrated  their  own  felicity,  that  their 
sovereign  should  graciously  consent  to  accept  this 
feeble  but  voluntary  testimony  of  their  loyalty  and 
gratitude.^^ 

A  people  elated  by  pride,  or  soured  by  discontent, 
are  seldom  qualified  to  form  a  just  estimate  of  their 
actual  situation.  The  subjects  of  Constantine  were 
incapable  of  discerning  the  decline  of  genius  and  manly 
virtue,  which  so  far  degraded  them  below  the  dignity 
of  their  ancestors  ;  but  they  could  feel  and  lament  the 
rage  of  tyranny,  the  relaxation  of  discipline,  and  the 
increase  of  taxes.  The  impartial  historian,  who  ac- 
knowledtj-es  the  justice  of  their  complaints,  will  observe 
some  favourable  circumstances  which  tended  to  alleviate 
the  misery  of  their  condition.  The  threatening  tempest 
of  Barbarians,  which  so  soon  subverted  the  foundations 
of  Roman  greatness,  was  still  repelled,  or  suspended, 
on  the  frontiers.  The  arts  of  luxury  and  literature 
were  cultivated,  and  the  elegant  pleasures  of  society 

i<^  The  Tarragonese  Spain  presented  the  emperor  Claudius 
with  a  crown  of  gold  of  seven,  and  Gaul  with  another  of  nine, 
hundred  pounds'  weight.  I  have  followed  the  rational  emenda- 
tion of  Lipsius. 

108  Cod.  Theod.  1.  xii.  tit.  xiii.  The  senators  were  supposed 
to  be  exempt  from  the  Aurum  Coronarium ;  but  the  Ann. 
Oblatio,  which  was  required  at  their  hands,  was  precisely  of 
the  sam?  nature. 


228  THE  DECLINE   AND  FALL 

were  enjoyed^  by  the  inhabitants  of  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  globe.  The  forms,  the  pomp,  and  the 
expense  of  the  civil  administration  contributed  to 
restrain  the  irregular  licence  of  the  soldiers ;  and, 
although  the  laws  were  violated  by  power  or  perverted 
by  subtlety,  the  sage  principles  of  the  Roman  juris- 
prudence preserved  a  sense  of  order  and  equity,  un- 
known to  the  despotic  governments  of  the  east.  The 
rights  of  mankind  might  derive  some  protection  from 
religion  and  philosophy  ;  and  the  name  of  freedom, 
which  could  no  longer  alarm,  might  sometimes  ad- 
monish, the  successors  of  Augustus  that  they  did  not 
reign  over  a  nation  of  slaves  or  barbarians. i°® 

103  The  great  Theodosius,  in  his  judicious  advice  to  his  son 
(Claudian  in  iv.  Consulat.  Honorii,  214,  &c.),  distinguishes  the 
station  of  a  Roman  prince  from  that  of  a  Partnian  monarch. 
Virtue  was  necessary  for  the  one  ;  birth  might  suffice  for  the 
other. 


OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  229 


CHAPTER  XVni 

CHARACTER     OF     CONSTANTINE GOTHIC    WAR DEATH     OF 

CONSTANTINE DIVISION    OF    THE    EMPIRE    AMONG    HIS 

THREE     SONS PERSIAN     WAR TRAGIC     DEATHS      OP 

CONSTANTINE    THE    YOUNGER    AND    CONSTANS USUR- 
PATION    OF    MAGNENTIUS CIVIL     WAR VICTORY     OF 

CONSTANTIUS 

The  character  of  the  prince  who  removed  the  seat  of 
empire  and  introduced  such  important  changes  into 
the  civil  and  religious  constitution  of  his  country  has 
fixed  the  attention,  and  divided  the  opinions,  of  man- 
kind. By  the  grateful  zeal  of  the  Christians,  the 
deliverer  of  the  church  has  been  decorated  with  every 
attribute  of  a  hero,  and  even  of  a  saint ;  while  the 
discontent  of  the  vanquished  party  has  compared 
Constantino  to  the  most  abhorred  of  those  tyrants, 
who,  by  their  vice  and  weakness,  dishonoured  the 
Imperial  purple.  The  same  passions  have  in  some 
degree  been  perpetuated  to  succeeding  generations, 
and  the  character  of  Constantine  is  considered,  even 
in  the  present  age,  as  an  object  either  of  satire  or  of 
panegyric.  By  the  impartial  union  of  those  defects 
which  are  confessed  by  his  warmest  admirers  and  of 
those  virtues  which  are  acknowledged  by  his  most 
implacable  enemies,  we  might  hope  to  delineate  a  just 
portrait  of  that  extraordinary  man,  which  the  truth 
and  candour  of  history  should  adopt  without  a  blush. 
But  it  would  soon  appear  that  the  vain  attempt  to 
blend  such  discordant  colours,  and  to  reconcile  such 
inconsistent  qualities,  must  produce  a  figure  monstrous 
rather  than  human,  unless  it  is  viewed  in  its  proper 
and  distinct  lights  by  a  careful  separation  of  the 
different  periods  of  the  reign  of  Constantine. 

The  person,  as  well  as  the  mind,  of  Constantine  had 


230  'J'HE   DECLINE   AXD   FALL  a.i>. 

been  enriched  by  nature  with  her  choicest  endowments. 
J  lis  stature  was  lofty,  his  countenance  majestic,  his 
deportment  graceful  ;  his  strength  and  activity  were 
displayed  in  every  manly  exercise,  and  from  his  earliest 
youth  to  a  very  advanced  season  of  life,  he  preserved 
the  vigour  of  his  constitution  by  a  strict  adlierence  to 
the  domestic  virtues  of  chastity  and  temperance.  He 
delighted  in  the  social  intercourse  of  familiar  conversa- 
tion ;  and,  though  he  might  sometimes  indulge  his  dis- 
position to  raillery  with  less  reserve  than  was  required 
by  the  severe  dignity  of  his  station,  the  courtesy  and 
liberality  of  his  manners  gained  the  hearts  of  all  who 
approached  him.  The  sincerity  of  his  friendship  has 
been  suspected  ;  yet  he  showed,  on  some  occasions, 
that  he  was  not  incapable  of  a  warm  and  lasting  attach- 
ment. The  disad\'antage  of  an  illiterate  education 
had  not  prevented  him  from  forming  a  just  estimate 
of  the  value  of  learning  ;  and  the  arts  and  sciences 
derived  some  encouragement  from  the  munificent 
protection  of  Constantine.  In  the  despatch  of  business, 
his  diligence  was  indefatigable  ;  and  the  active  powers 
of  his  mind  were  almost  continually  exercised  in  read- 
ing, writing,  or  meditating,  in  giving  audience  to 
ambassadors,  and  in  examining  the  complaints  of  his 
subjects.  Even  those  who  censured  the  propriety  of 
his  measures  were  compelled  to  acknowledge  that  he 
])ossessed  magnanimity  to  conceive,  and  patience  to 
execute,  the  most  arduous  designs,  without  being 
checked  either  by  the  prejudices  of  education  or  by 
the  clamours  of  the  multitude.  In  the  field,  he  infused 
liis  own  intrepid  spirit  into  the  troops,  whom  he  con- 
ducted with  the  talents  of  a  consummate  general  ;  and 
to  his  abilities,  rather  than  to  his  fortune,  we  may 
ascribe  the  signal  victories  which  he  obtained  over  the 
foreign  and  domestic  foes  of  the  republic.  He  loved 
glory,  as  the  reward,  perhaps  as  the  motive,  of  his 
labours.  The  boundless  ambition,  which,  from  the 
moment  of  his  accepting  the  purple  at  York,  appears 
as  the  ruling  passion  of  his  soul,  may  be  justified  by 
the  dangers  of  his  own  situation,  by  the  character  of 


323-337       OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  231 

his  rivals,  by  the  consciousness  of  superior  merit,  and 
by  the  prospect  that  his  success  would  enable  him  to 
restore  peace  and  order  to  the  distracted  empire.  In 
his  civil  wars  against  Maxentius  and  Licinius,  he  had 
engaged  on  his  side  the  inclinations  of  the  people,  who 
compared  the  imdissembled  vices  of  those  tyrants 
with  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  justice  which  seemed 
to  direct  the  general  tenor  of  the  administration  of 
Constantine.^ 

Had  Constantine  fallen  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber, 
or  even  in  the  plains  of  Hadrianople,  such  is  the 
character  which,  with  a  few  exceptions,  he  might  have 
transmitted  to  posterity.  But  the  conclusion  of  his 
reign  (according  to  the  moderate  and  indeed  tender 
sentence  of  a  writer  of  the  same  age)  degraded  him 
from  the  rank  which  he  had  acquired  among  the  most 
deserving  of  the  Roman  princes.  In  the  '  life  of 
Augustus,  we  behold  the  tyrant  of  the  republic  con- 
verted, almost  by  imperceptible  degrees,  into  the  father 
of  his  country  and  of  human  kind.  In  that  of  Con- 
stantine, we  may  contemplate  a  hero,  who  had  so  long 
inspired  his  subjects  with  love  and  his  enemies  with 
terror,  dearenerating  into  a  cruel  and  dissolute  monarch, 
corrupted  by  his  fortune,  or  raised  by  conquest  above 
the  necessity  of  dissimulation.  The  general  peace 
which  he  maintained  during  the  last  fourteen  years  of 
his  reign  was  a  period  of  apparent  splendour  rather 
than  of  real  prosperity  ;  and  the  old  age  of  Constantine 
was  disgraced  by  the  opposite  yet  reconcilable  vices 
of  rapaciousness  and  prodigality.  The  accumulated 
treasures  found  in  the  palaces  of  Maxentius  and 
Liciuius  were  lavishly  consumed  ;  the  various  innova- 
tions introduced  by  the  conqueror  were  attended  with 
an  increasing  expense  ;  the  cost  of  his  buildings,  his 
court,  and  his  festivals,   required  an  immediate  and 

1  The  virtues  of  Constantine  are  collected  for  the  most  part 
from  Eutropius  and  the  younger  Victor,  two  sincere  pagans, 
who  wTote  after  the  extinction  of  his  family.  Even  Zosimus 
and  the  Emperor  Julian  acknowledge  his  personal  courage  and 
military  achievements. 


232  THE  DECLINE  AND   FALL  a.d. 

plentiful  supply  ;  and  the  oppression  of  the  people  was 
the  only  fund  which  could  support  the  magnificence  of 
the  sovereign.  His  unworthy  favourites,  enriched  by 
the  boundless  liberality  of  their  master,  usurped  with 
impunity  the  privilege  of  rapine  and  corruption.  A 
secret  but  universal  decay  was  felt  in  every  part  of  the 
public  administration,  and  the  emperor  himself,  though 
he  still  retained  the  obedience,  gradually  lost  the 
esteem,  of  his  subjects.  The  dress  and  manners,  which, 
towards  the  decline  of  life,  he  chose  to  affect,  served 
only  to  degrade  him  in  the  eyes  of  mankind.  The 
Asiatic  pomp,  which  had  been  adopted  by  the  pride  of 
Diocletian,  assumed  an  air  of  softness  and  effeminacy 
in  the  person  of  Constautine.  He  is  represented  with 
false  hair  of  various  colours,  laboriously  arranged  by 
the  skilful  artists  of  the  times  ;  a  diadem  of  a  new  and 
more  expensive  fashion ;  a  profusion  of  gems  and 
pearls,  of  collars  and  bracelets,  and  a  variegated  flowing 
robe  of  silk,  most  curiously  embroidered  with  flowers 
of  gold.  In  such  apparel,  scarcely  to  be  excused  by 
the  youth  and  folly  of  Elagabalus,  we  are  at  a  loss 
to  discover  the  wisdom  of  an  aged  monarch  and  the 
simplicity  of  a  Roman  veteran.^  A  mind  thus  relajced 
by  prosp.eritY-And  indulgence  was_iiicap?iblft  of  rising 
to  that  magnanimityL-W-liich  -disdains  suspicion  and 
dares  to  forgive.  The  deaths  of  Maximian  and  Liciuius 
may  perhaps  be  justified  by  the  maxims  of  policy,  as 
they  are  taught  in  the  schools  of  tyrants  ;  but  an  im- 
partial narrative  of  the  executions,  or  rather  murders, 
which  sullied  the  declining  age  of  Constautine,  will 
suggest  to  our  most  candid  thoughts  the  idea  of  a 
prince  who  could  sacrifice  without  reluctance  the  laws 
of  justice  and  the  feelings  of  nature  to  the  dictates 
either  of  his  passions  or  of  his  interest. 

2  Julian,  in  the  Caesars,  attempts  to  ridicule  his  uncle.  His 
suspicious  testimony  is  confirmed  however  by  the  learned 
Spanheim,  with  the  authority  of  medals.  Eusebms  (Orat.  c. 
S)  alleges  that  Constantine  dressed  for  the  public,  not  for 
himself.  Were  this  admitted,  the  vainest  coxcomb  could 
never  want  an  excuse. 


323-337        OF   THE   ROxMAN   EMPIRE  233 

The  same  fortune  which  so  invariably  followed  the 
standard  of  Constantine  seemed  to  secure  the  hopes 
and  comforts  of  his  domestic  life.  Those  among  Ids 
predecessors  who  had  enjoyed  the  longest  and  most 
prosperous  reigns,,  Augustus^  Trajan,  and  Diocletian, 
had  been  disappointed  of  posterity  ;  and  the  frequent 
revolutions  had  never  allowed  sufficient  time  for  any 
Imperial  family  to  grow  up  and  multiply  under  the 
shade  of  the  purple.  But  the  royalty  of  the  Flavian 
line,  which  had  been  first  ennobled  by  the  Gothic 
Claudius,  descended  through  several  generations  ;  and 
Constantine  himself  derived  from  his  royal  father 
the  hereditary  honours  which  he  transmitted  to  his 
children.  The  emperor  had  been  twice  married. 
Minervina,  the  obscure  but  lawful  object  of  his  youth- 
ful attachment/  had  ieft  him  only  one  son,  who  was 
called  Crispus.  By  Fausta,  the  daughter  of  Maximian, 
he  had  three  daughters,  and  three  sons,  known  by 
the  kindred  names  of  Constantine,  Constantius,  and 
Constans.  The  unambitious  brothers  of  the  great 
Constantine,  Julius  Constantius,  Dalmatius,  and 
Hannibalianus,'*  were  permitted  to  enjoy  the  most 
lionourable  rank,  and  the  most  affluent  fortune,  that 
could  be  consistent  with  a  private  station.  The 
youngest  of  the  three  lived  without  a  name,  and  died 
without  posterity.  His  two  elder  brothers  obtained  in 
marriage  the  daughters  of  wealtliy  senators,  and  pro- 
pagated new  branches  of  the  Imperial  race.  Gallus 
and  Julian  afterwards  became  the  most  illustrious  of 
the  children  of  Julius  Constantius,  the  Patrician. 
The  two  sons  of  Dalmatius,  who  had  been  decorated 
with  the  vain  title  of  censor^  were  named  Dalmatius 
and    Hannibalianus.       The  two    sisters   of  the   great 

s  Zosimus  and  Zonaras  agree  in  representing  Minervina  as 
the  concubine  of  Constantine  :  but  Ducange  has  very  gallantly 
rescued  her  character,  by  producing  a  decisive  passage  from 
one  of  the  panegyrics, 

4  Ducange  (Familise  Byzantinae,  p,  44)  bestows  on  him, 
after  Zonaras,  the  name  of  Constantine ;  a  name  somewhat 
unlikely,  as  it  was  already  occupied  by  the  elder  brother, 

VOL.  II.  H  2 


234  THE  DECLINE   AND  FALL  a.d. 

Constantine,  Anastasia  and  Eutropia,  were  bestowed 
on  Optatus  and  Nepotianus,  two  senators  of  noble 
birth  and  of  consular  dignity.  His  third  sister,  Cou- 
stantia,  was  distinguished  by  her  pre-eminence  of 
greatness  and  of  misery.  She  remained  the  widow  of 
the  vanquished  Licinius  ;  and  it  was  by  her  entreaties 
that  an  innocent  boy,  the  offspring  of  their  marriage, 
preserved  for  some  time,  his  life,  the  title  of  Caesar, 
and  a  precarious  hope  of  the  succession.  Besides  the 
females  and  the  allies  of  the  Flavian  house,  ten  or 
twelve  males,  to  whom  the  language  of  modern  courts 
would  apply  the  title  of  princes  of  the  blood,  seemed, 
according  to  the  order  of  their  birth,  to  be  destined 
either  to  inherit  or  to  support  the  throne  of  Constan- 
tine. But  in  less  than  thirty  years,  this  numerous 
and  increasing  family  was  reduced  to  the  persons  of 
Constantius  and  Julian,  who  alone  had  survived  a 
series  of  crimes  and  calamities,  such  as  the  tragic  poets 
have  deplored  in  the  devoted  lines  of  Pelops  and  of 
Cadmus. 

Crispus,  the  eldest  son  of  Constantine,  and  the  pre- 
sumptive heir  of  the  empire,  is  represented  by  impartial 
historians  as  an  amiable  and  accomplished  youth.  The 
care  of  his  education,  or  at  least  of  his  studies,  was 
entrusted  to  Lactantius,  the  most  eloquent  of  the 
Christians  ;  a  prieceptor  admirably  qualified  to  form 
the  taste,  and  to  excite  the  virtues,  of  his  illustrious 
disciple.^  At  the  age  of  seventeen,  Crispus  was  in- 
vested with  the  title  of  Caesar,  and  the  administration 
of  the  Gallic  provinces,  where  the  inroads  of  the 
Germans  gave  him  an  early  occasion  of  signalising  his 
military  prowess.  In  the  civil  war  which  broke  out 
soon  afterwards,  the  father  and  son  divided  their 
powers  ;  and  this  history  has  already  celebrated  the 
valour  as  well  as  conduct  displayed  by  the  latter  in 
forcing  the  straits  of  the  Hellespont,  so  obstinately 
defended    by   the    superior   fleet   of    Licinius.      This 

5  Jerom.  in  Chron.  The  poverty  of  Lactamius  may  be 
applied  either  to  the  praise  of  the  disinterestedjphilosopher  or  to 
the  shame  of  the  unfeeling  patron. 


324  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  235 

naval  victory  contributed  to  determine  the  event  of 
the  war  ;  and  the  names  of  Constantine  and  of  Crispus 
were  united  in  the  joyful  acclamations  of  their  eastern 
subjects  :  who  loudly  proclaimed  that  the  world  had 
been  subdued^  and  was  now  governed,  by  an  emperor 
endowed  with  every  virtue;  and  by  his  illustrious  son, 
a  prince  beloved  of  heaven,  and  the  lively  image  of 
his  father's  perfections.  The  public  favour,  which 
seldom  accompanies  old  age,  diffused  its  lustre  over 
the  youth  of  Crispus.  He  deserved  the  esteem,  and 
he  engaged  the  affections,  of  the  court,  the  army,  and 
the  people.  The  experienced  merit  of  a  reigning 
monarch  is  acknowledged  by  his  subjects  with  reluc- 
tance, and  frequently  denied  with  partial  and  discon- 
tented murmurs;  while,  from  the  opening  virtues  of 
his  successor,  they  fondly  conceive  the  roost  unbounded 
hopes  of  private  as  well  as  public  felicity. 

This  dangerous  popularity  soon  excited  the  attention 
of  Constantine,  who,  both  as  a  father  and  as  a  king, 
was  impatient  of  an  equal.  Instead  of  attempting  to 
secure  the  allegiance  of  his  son,  by  the  generous  ties 
of  confidence  and  gratitude,  he  resolved  to  prevent  the 
mischiefs  which  might  be  apprehended  from  dissatisfied 
ambition.  Crispus  soon  had  reason  to  complain  that, 
while  his  infant  brother  Constantius  was  sent,  with  the 
title  of  Csesar,  to  reign  over  his  peculiar  department  of 
the  Gallic  provinces,  he,  a  prince  of  mature  years,  who 
had  performed  such  recent  and  signal  services,  instead 
of  being  raised  to  the  superior  rank  of  Augustus,  was 
confined  almost  a  prisoner  to  his  father's  court ;  and 
exposed,  without  power  or  defence,  to  every  calumny 
which  the  malice  of  his  enemies  could  suggest.  Under 
such  painful  circumstances,  the  royal  youth  might  not 
always  be  able  to  compose  his  behaviour,  or  suppress 
his  discontent ;  and  we  may  be  assured  that  he  was 
encompassed  by  a  train  of  indiscreet  or  perfidious 
followers,  who  assiduously  studied  to  inflame,  and  who 
were  perhaps  instructed  to  betray,  the  unguarded 
warmth  of  his  resentment.  An  edict  of  Constantine, 
published  about  this  time,  manifestly  indicates  his  real 


236  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  A.i>. 

or  affected  suspicions  that  a  secret  conspiracy  had  been 
formed  against  his  person  and  government.  By  all 
the  allurements  of  honours  and  rewards,  he  invites 
informers  of  every  degree  to  accuse  without  exception 
his  magistrates  or  ministers,  his  friends  or  his  most 
intimate  favourites,  protesting,  with  a  solemn  assevera- 
tion, that  he  himself  will  listen  to  the  charge,  that  he 
himself  will  revenge  his  injuries  ;  and  concluding  with 
a  prayer,  which  discovers  some  apprehension  of  danger, 
that  the  providence  of  the  Supreme  Being  may  still 
continue  to  protect  the  safety  of  the  emperor  and  of 
the  empire. 

The  informers,  who  complied  with  so  liberal  an 
invitation,  were  sufficiently  versed  in  the  arts  of  coui-ts 
to  select  the  friends  and  adherents  of  Crispus  as  the 
guilty  persons  ;  nor  is  there  any  reason  to  distrust  the 
veracity  of  the  emperor,  who  had  promised  an  ample 
measure  of  revenge  and  punishment.  The  policy  of 
Constantino  maintained,  however,  the  same  appearances 
of  regard  and  confidence  towards  a  son  whom  he  began 
to  consider  as  his  most  irreconcilable  enemy.  Medals 
were  struck  with  the  customary  vows  for  the  long  and 
auspicious  reign  of  the  young  Caesar  ;  and  as  the  people, 
who  was  not  admitted  into  the  secrets  of  the  palace, 
still  loved  his  virtues  and  respected  his  dignity,  a  poet 
who  solicits  his  recall  from  exile,  adores  with  equal 
devotion  the  majesty  of  the  father  and  that  of  the 
son.''  The  time  was  now  arrived  for  celebrating  the 
august  ceremony  of  the  twentieth  year  of  the  reign  of 
Constantino ;  and  the  emperor,  for  that  purpose,  re- 
moved his  court  from  Nicomedia  to  Rome,  where  the 
most  splendid  preparations  had  been  made  for  his 
reception.  Every  eye  and  every  tongue  affected  to 
express  their  sense  of  the  general  happiness,  and  the 
veil  of  ceremony  and  dissimulation  was  drawn  for  a 
while  over  the  darkest  designs  of  revenge  and  murder. 
In  the  midst  of  the  festival,  the  unfortunate  Crispus 
was  apprehended  by  order  of  the  emperor,  who  laid 

6  His  name  was  Porphyrius  Optatianus. 


325-826        OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  237 

aside  the  tenderness  of  a  father,  without  assuming  the 
equity  of  a  judge.  The  examination  was  short  and 
private  ;  and,  as  it  was  thought  decent  to  conceal  the 
fate  of  the  young  prince  from  the  eyes  of  the  Roman 
people,  he  was  sent  under  a  strong  guard  to  Pola,  in 
Istria,  where,  soon  afterwards,  he  was  put  to  death, 
either  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner  or  by  the  more 
gentle  operation  of  poison.  The  Csesar  Licinius,  a 
youth  of  amiable  manners,  was  involved  in  the  ruin  of 
Crispus ;  and  the  stern  jealousy  of  Constantine  was 
unmoved  by  the  prayers  and  tears  of  his  favourite 
sister,  pleading  for  the  life  of  a  son,  whose  rank  was  his 
only  crime,  and  whose  loss  she  did  not  long  survive. 
The  story  of  these  unhappy  princes,  the  nature  and 
evidence  of  their  guilt,  the  forms  of  their  trial,  and 
the  circumstances  of  their  death,  were  buried  in  mys- 
terious obscurity  ;  and  the  courtly  bishop,  who  has 
celebrated  in  an  elaborate  work  the  virtues  and  piety 
of  his  hero,  observes  a  prudent  silence  on  the  subject 
of  these  tragic  events.'^  Such  haughty  contempt  for 
the  opinion  of  mankind,  whilst  it  imprints  an  indelible 
stain  on  the  memory  of  Constantine,  must  remind  us 
of  the  very  different  behaviour  of  one  of  the  greatest 
monarchs  of  the  present  age.  The  Czar  Peter,  in  the 
full  possession  of  despotic  power,  submitted  to  the 
judgment  of  Russia,  of  Europe,  and  of  posterity,  the 
reasons  which  had  compelled  him  to  subscribe  to  the 
condemnation  of  a  criminal,  or  at  least  of  a  degene- 
rate, son. 

The  innocence  of  Crispus  was  so  universally  acknow- 
ledged that  the  modern  Greeks,  who  adore  the  memory 
of  their  founder,  are  reduced  to  palliate  the  guilt  of  a 
parricide,  which  the  common  feelings  of  human  nature 
forbade  them  to  justify.  They  pretend  that,  as  soon 
as  the  afflicted  father  discovered  the  falsehood  of  the 
accusation  by  which  his  credulity  had  been  so  fatally 

7  Two  hundred  and  fifty  years  afterwards,  Evagrius  (1.  iii.  c. 
41)  deduced  from  the  silence  of  Eusebius  a  vain  argument 
against  the  reality  of  the  fact. 


238  THE  DECLINE   AND   FALL  ad. 

misled,  he  published  to  the  world  his  repentance  and 
remorse  ;  that  he  mourned  forty  days,  during  which 
he  abstained  from  the  use  of  the  bath  and  all  the 
ordinary  comforts  of  life  ;  and  that,  for  the  lasting 
instruction  of  posterity,  he  erected  a  golden  statue  of 
Crispus,  with  this  memorable  inscription  :  To  anr  Son, 
WHOM  I  UNJUSTLY  CONDEMNED. ^  A  tale  SO  moral  and 
so  interesting  would  deserve  to  be  supported  by  less 
exceptionable  authority  ;  but,  if  we  consult  the  more 
ancient  and  authentic  writers,  they  will  inform  us  that 
the  repentance  of  Constantino  was  manifested  only  in 
acts  of  blood  and  revenge  ;  and  that  he  atoned  for  the 
murder  of  an  innocent  son,  by  the  execution,  perhaps, 
of  a  guilty  wife.  They  ascribe  the  misfortunes  of 
Crispus  to  the  arts  of  his  stepmother  Fausta,  whose 
implacable  hatred,  or  whose  disappointed  love,  renewed 
in  the  palace  of  Constantine  the  ancient  tragedy  of 
Fiippolytus  and  of  Phaedra.^  Like  the  daughter  of 
Minos,  the  daughter  of  Maximian  accused  her  son-in- 
law  of  an  incestuous  attempt  on  the  chastity  of  his 
father's  wife  ;  and  easily  obtained,  from  the  jealousy 
of  the  emperor,  a  sentence  of  death  against  a  young 
prince  whom  she  considered  with  reason  as  the  most 
formidable  rival  of  her  own  children.  But  Helena, 
the  aged  mother  of  Constantine,  lamented  and  revenged 
the  untimely  fate  of  her  grandson  Crispus  ;  nor  was  it 
long  before  a  real  or  pretended  discovery  was  made, 
that  Fausta  herself  entertained  a  criminal  connection 
with  a  slave  belonging  to  the  Imperial  stables.  ^^     Her 

8  In  order  to  prove  that  the  statue  was  erected  by  Constan- 
tine, and  afterwards  concealed  by  the  malice  of  the  Arians. 
Codinus  very  readily  creates  (p.  34)  two  witnesses,  Hippolytus 
and  the  younger  Herodotus,  to  whose  imaginary  histories  he 
appeals  with  unblushing  confidence. 

8  Zosimus  (1.  ii.  p.  103)  may  be  considered  as  our 
original.  The  ingenuity  of  the  moderns,  assisted  by  a  few 
hints  from  the  ancients,  has  illustrated  and  improved  his 
obscure  and  imperfect  narrative. 

^^  Philostorgius,  1.  ii.  c.  4.  Zosimus  (1.  ii.  p.  104,  116)  im- 
putes to  Constantine  the  death  of  two  wives:  of  the  innocent 
Fausta,  and  of  an  adulteress  who  was  the  mother  of  his  three 


323-337         OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  230 

condemnation  and  punishment  were  the  instant  con- 
sequences of  the  charg-e  ;  and  the  adulteress  was  suflro- 
cated  by  the  steam  of  a  bath^  which^  for  that  purpose, 
had  been  heated  to  an  extraordinary  degree. ^^  By 
some  it  will  perhaps  be  thought,  that  the  remembrance 
of  a  conjugal  union  of  twenty  years,  and  the  honour 
of  their  common  offspring,  the  destined  heirs  of  the 
throne,  might  have  softened  the  obdurate  heart  of 
Constantine ;  and  persuaded  him  to  suffer  his  wife, 
however  guilty  she  might  appear,  to  expiate  her 
offences  in  a  solitary  prison.  But  it  seems  a  super- 
fluous labour  to  weigh  the  propriety,  unless  we  could 
ascertain  the  truth,  of  this  singular  event ;  which  is 
attended  with  some  circumstances  of  doubt  and  per- 
plexity. Those  who  have  attacked,  and  those  who 
have  defended,  the  character  of  Constantine  have 
alike  disregarded  two  very  remarkable  passages  of 
two  orations  pronounced  under  the  succeeding  reign. 
The  former  celebrates  the  virtues,  the  beauty,  and  the 
fortune  of  the  empress  Fausta,  the  daughter,  wife, 
sister,  and  mother  of  so  many  princes. ^^  The  latter 
asserts,  in  explicit  terms,  that  the  mother  of  the 
younger  Constantine,  who  was  slain  three  years  after 
his  father's  death,  survived  to  weep  over  the  fate  of 
her   son.     Notwithstanding   the  positive  testimony  of 

successors.  According  to  Jerom,  three  or  four  years  elapsed 
between  the  death  of  Crispus  and  that  of  Fausta.  The  elder 
Victor  is  prudently  silent. 

11  If  Fausta  was  put  to  death,  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that 
the  private  apartments  of  the  palace  were  the  scene  of  her 
execution.  The  orator  Chrysostom  indulges  his  fancy  by  ex- 
posing the  naked  empress  on  a  desert  mountain,  to  be  devoured 
by  wild  beasts. 

12  Julian.  Orat.  i.  He  seems  to  call  her  the  mother 
of  Crispus.  She  might  assume  that  title  by  adoption. 
At  least,  she  was  not  considered  as  his  mortal  enemy. 
Julian  compares  the  fortune  of  Fausta  with  that  of  Parysatis, 
the  Persian  queen.  A  Roman  would  have  more  naturally 
recollected  the  second  Agrippina  : — 

Et  moi,  qui  sur  le  trone  ai  suivi  mes  ancetres  : 
Moi,  fille,  femme,  soeur  et  m^re  de  vos  maitres. 


240  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

several  writers  of  the  Pa^an  as  well  as  of  the  Christian 
religion,  there  may  still  remain  some  reason  to  believe, 
or  at  least  to  suspect,  that  Fausta  escaped  the  blind 
and  suspicious  cruelty  of  her  husband.  The  deaths  of 
a  son,  and  of  a  nephew,  with  the  execution  of  a  great 
number  of  respectable  and  perhaps  innocent  friends, 
who  were  involved  in  their  fall,  may  be  sufficient, 
however,  to  justify  the  discontent  of  the  Roman  people, 
and  to  explain  the  satirical  verses  affixed  to  the  palace- 
gate,  comparing  the  splendid  and  bloody  reigns  of 
Constantine  and  Nero. 

By  the  death  of  Crispus,  the  inheritance  of  the 
empire  seemed  to  devolve  on  the  three  sons  of  Fausta, 
who  have  been  already  mentioned  under  the  names  of 
Constantine,  of  Constantius,  and  of  Constans.  These 
young  princes  were  successively  invested  with  the  title 
of  Caesar  ;  and  the  dates  of  their  promotion  may  be 
referred  to  the  tenth,  the  twentieth,  and  the  thirtieth 
years  of  the  reign  of  their  father.  This  conduct, 
though  it  tended  to  multiply  the  future  masters  of 
the  Roman  world,  might  be  excused  by  the  partiality 
of  paternal  affection  ;  but  it  is  not  easy  to  understand 
the  motives  of  the  emperor,  when  he  endangered  the 
safety  both  of  his  family  and  of  his  people,  by  the 
unnecessary  elevation  of  his  two  nephews,  Dalmatius 
and  Hannibalianus.  The  former  was  raised,  by  the 
title  of  Caesar,  to  an  equality  with  his  cousins.  In 
favour  of  the  latter,  Constantine  invented  the  new 
and  singular  appellation  of  Xobilissimus  ;^^  to  which 
he  annexed  the  flattering  distinction  of  a  robe  of 
purple  and  gold.  But  of  the  whole  series  of  Roman 
princes  in  any  age  of  the  empire,  Hannibalianus  alone 
was  distinguished  by  the  title  of  King  ;  a  name  which 
the  subjects  of  Tiberius  would  have  detested,  as  the 
profane  and  cruel  insult  of  capricious  tyranny.  The 
use  of  such  a  title,  even  as  it  appears  under  the  reign 
of  Constantine,   is  a  strange  and   unconnected   fact, 

13  Under  the  predecessors  of  Constantine,  Nobilissimus  was 
a  vague  epithet  rather  than  a  legal  and  determined  title. 


323-837       OF  THE    ROMAN   EMPIRE  241 

which  can  scarcely  he  admitted  on  the  joint  authority 
of  imperial  medals  and  contemporary  writers. 

The  whole  empire  was  deeply  interested  in  the  edu- 
cation of  these  live  youths,  the  acknowledged  successors 
of  Constantine.  The  exercises  of  the  body  prepared 
them  for  the  fatigues  of  war  and  the  duties  of  active 
life.  Those  who  occasionally  mention  the  education 
or  talents  of  Constantius  allow  that  he  excelled  in  the 
gymnastic  arts  of  leaping  and  running ;  that  he  was 
a  dexterous  archer,  a  skilful  horseman,  and  a  master 
of  all  the  different  weapons  used  in  the  service  either 
of  the  cavalry  or  of  the  infantry.  The  same  assiduous 
cultivation  was  bestowed,  though  not  perhaps  with 
equal  success,  to  improve  the  minds  of  the  sons  and 
nephews  of  Constantine.^^  The  most  celebrated  pro- 
fessors of  the  Christian  faith,  of  the  Grecian  philosophy, 
and  of  the  Roman  jurisprudence  were  invited  by  the 
liberality  of  the  emperor,  who  reserved  for  himself  the 
important  task  of  instructing  the  royal  youths  in  the 
science  of  government  and  the  knowledge  of  mankind. 
But  the  genius  of  Constantine  himself  had  been  fom:ied 
by  adversity  and  experience.  In  the  free  intercourse 
of  private  life,  and  amidst  the  dangers  of  the  court 
of  Galerius,  he  had  learned  to  command  his  own 
passions,  to  encounter  those  of  his  equals,  and  to  de- 
pend for  his  present  safety  and  future  greatness  on 
the  prudence  and  firmness  of  his  personal  conduct. 
His  destined  successors  had  the  misfortune  of  being 
born  and  educated  in  the  Imperial  purple.  Incessantly 
surrounded  with  a  train  of  flatterers,  they  passed  their 
youth  in  the  enjoyment  of  luxury  and  the  expectation 
of  a  throne  ;  nor  would  the  dignity  of  their  rank  per- 
mit them  to  descend  from  that  elevated  station  from 
whence  the  various  characters  of  human  nature  appear 
to  wear  a  smooth  and  uniform  aspect.  The  indulgence 
of  Constantine  admitted  them  at  a  very  tender  age 
to  share  the  administration  of  the  empire  :  and  they 

!■*  Constantius  studied  with  laudable  diligence ;  but  the 
dulness  of  his  fancy  prevented  him  from  succeeding  in  the 
art  of  poetry,  or  even  of  rhetoric. 


242  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

studied  the  art  of  reigning  at  the  expense  of  the  people 
entrusted  to  their  care.  The  younger  Constantine 
was  appointed  to  hold  his  court  in  Gaul  ;  and  his 
brother  Constautius  exchanged  that  department,  the 
ancient  patrimony  of  their  father,  for  the  more  opulent, 
but  less  martial,  countries  of  the  East.  Italy,  the 
Western  IlljTicum,  and  Africa  were  accustomed  to 
revere  Constans,  the  third  of  his  sons,  as  the  represen- 
tative of  the  great  Constantine.  He  fixed  Dalmatius 
on  the  Gothic  frontier,  to  which  he  annexed  the 
government  of  Thrace,  Macedonia,  and  Greece.  The 
city  of  Caesarea  was  chosen  for  the  residence  of 
Hannibalianus  ;  and  the  provinces  of  Pontus,  Cappa- 
docia,  and  the  Lesser  Armenia  were  destined  to  form 
the  extent  of  his  new  kingdom.  For  each  of  these 
princes  a  suitable  establishment  was  provided.  A  just 
proportion  of  guards,  of  legions,  and  of  auxiliaries  was 
allotted  for  their  respective  dignity  and  defence.  The 
ministers  and  generals  who  were  placed  about  their 
persons  were  such  as  Constantine  could  trust  to  assist, 
and  even  to  control,  these  youthful  sovereigns  in  the 
exercise  of  their  delegated  power.  As  they  advanced 
in  years  and  experience,  the  limits  of  their  authority 
were  insensibly  enlarged  :  but  the  emperor  always  re- 
served for  himself  the  title  of  Augustus  ;  and,  while 
he  showed  the  Ccesnrs  to  the  armies  and  provinces,  he 
maintained  every  part  of  the  empire  in  equal  obedience 
to  its  supreme  head.^^  The  tranquillity  of  the  last 
fourteen  years  of  his  reign  was  scarcely  interrupted  by 
the  contemptible  insurrection  of  a  camel-driver  in  the 
island  of  Cyprus/^  or  by  the  active  part  which  the  policy 
of  Constantine  engaged  him  to  assume  in  the  wars  of 
the  Goths  and  Sarmatians. 

15  Eusebius,  with  a  design  of  exalting  the  authority  and  glory 
of  Constantine,  affirms  that  he  divided  the  Roman  empire  as 
a  private  citizen  might  have  divided  his  patrimony.  His 
distribution  of  the  provinces  may  be  collected  from  Eutropius, 
the  two  Victors,  and  the  Valesian  fragment. 

18  Calocerus,  the  obscure  leader  of  this  rebellion,  or  rather 
tumult,  was  apprehended  and  burnt  alive  in  the  market-place 
of  Tarsus,  by  the  vigilance  of  Dalmatius. 


OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  243 

Among:  the  different  branches  of  the  human  race, 
the  Sarmatians  form  a  very  remarkable  shade  ;  as  they 
seem  to  unite  the  manners  of  the  Asiatic  barbarians 
with  the  figure  and  complexion  of  the  ancient  inhabi- 
tants of  Europe.  According  to  the  various  accidents 
of  peace  and  war,  of  alliance  or  conquest,  the  Sarmatians 
were  sometimes  confined  to  the  banks  of  the  Tanais  ; 
and  they  sometimes  spread  themselves  over  the  immense 
plains  which  lie  between  the  Vistula  and  the  Volga. 
The  care  of  their  numerous  flocks  and  herds,  the 
pursuit  of  game,  and  the  exercise  of  war,  or  rather  of 
rapine,  directed  the  vagrant  motions  of  the  Sarmatians. 
The  moveable  camps  or  cities,  the  ordinary  residence 
of  their  wives  and  children,  consisted  only  of  large 
waggons,  drawn  by  oxen  and  covered  in  the  form  of 
tents.  The  military  strength  of  the  nation  was  com- 
posed of  cavalry  ;  and  the  custom  of  their  warriors,  to 
lead  in  their  hand  one  or  two  spare  horses,  enabled 
them  to  advance  and  to  retreat  with  a  rapid  diligence 
which  surprised  the  security,  and  eluded  the  pursuit, 
of  a  distant  enemy.  Their  poverty  of  iron  prompted 
their  rude  industry  to  invent  a  sort  of  cuirass,  which 
was  capable  of  resisting  a  sword  or  javelin,  though  it 
was  formed  only  of  horses'  hoofs,  cut  into  thin  and 
polished  slices,  carefully  laid  over  each  other  in  the 
manner  of  scales  or  feathers,  and  strongly  sewed  upon 
an  under-garment  of  coarse  linen. ^"  The  offensive 
arms  of  the  Sarmatians  were  short  daggers,  long  lances, 
and  a  weighty  bow  with  a  quiver  of  arrows,  lliey 
were  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  employing  fish  bones 
for  the  points  of  their  weapons  ;  but  the  custom  of 
dipping  them  in  a  venomous  liquor  that  poisoned  the 
wounds  which  they  inflicted  is  alone  suflScient  to  prove 
the  most  savage  manners  ;  since  a  people  impressed 
with  a  sense  of  humanity  would  have  abhorred  so  cruel 
a  practice,  and  a  nation   skilled  in  the  arts  of  war 

17  Pausanias,  1.  i.  p.  50,  edit.  Kuhn.  That  inquisitive 
traveller  had  carefully  examined  a  Sarmatian  cuirass,  which 
was  preserved  in  the  temple  of  ^Esculapius  at  Athens. 


244  THE   DECLINE   AND    FALL  a.d. 

would  have  disdained  so  impotent  a  resource.^  When- 
ever these  Barbarians  issued  from  their  deserts  in 
quest  of  prey,  their  shaggy  beards^  uncombed  locks, 
the  furs  with  which  they  were  covered  from  head  to 
foot,  and  their  fierce  countenances,  which  seemed 
to  express  the  innate  cruelty  of  their  minds,  inspired 
the  more  civilised  provincials  of  Rome  with  horror  and 
dismay. 

The  tender  Ovid,  after  a  youth  spent  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  fame  and  luxury,  was  condemned  to  an  hope- 
less exile  on  the  frozen  banks  of  the  Danube,  where  he 
was  exposed,  almost  without  defence,  to  the  fury  of 
these  monsters  of  the  desert,  with  whose  stern  spirits 
he  feared  that  his  gentle  shade  might  hereafter  be 
confounded.  In  his  pathetic,  but  sometimes  unmanly, 
lamentations,^^  he  describes,  in  the  most  lively  colours, 
the  dress  and  manners,  the  arms  and  inroads  of  the 
Getae  and  Sarmatians,  who  were  associated  for  the 
purposes  of  destruction  ;  and  from  the  accounts  of 
history  there  is  some  reason  to  believe  that  these 
Sarmatians  were  the  Jazygie,  one  of  the  most  numerous 
and  warlike  tribes  of  the  nation.  The  allurements  of 
plenty  engaged  them  to  seek  a  permanent  establish- 
ment on  the  frontiers  of  the  empire.  Soon  after  the 
reign  of  Augustus,  they  obliged  the  Dacians,  who 
subsisted  by  fishing  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Theiss  or 

18  Aspicis  et  mitti  sub  adunco  toxica  ferro, 
Et  lelum  causas  mortis  habere  duas. 

Ovid,  ex  Ponto,  1.  iv.  ep.  7,  ver.  7. 
See  in  the  Recherches  sur  les  Am^ricains,  torn.  ii.  pp.  236-271, 
a  very  curious  dissertation  on  poisoned  darts.  The  venom  was 
commonly  extracted  from  the  vegetable  reign  ;  but  that  em- 
ployed by  the  Scythians  appears  to  have  been  drawn  from  the 
viper  and  a  mixture  of  human  blood.  The  use  of  poisoned 
arms,  which  has  been  spread  over  both  worlds,  never  preserved 
a  savage  tribe  from  the  arms  of  a  disciplined  enemy. 

19  The  nine  books  of  Poetical  Epistles,  which  Ovid  composed 
during  the  seven  first  years  of  his  melancholy  exile,  possess, 
besides  the  merit  of  elegance,  a  double  value.  They  exhibit 
a  picture  of  the  human  mind  under  very  singular  circumstances  ; 
and  ihey  contain  many  curious  observations,  which  no  Roman, 
except  Ovid,  could  have  an  opportunity  of  making. 


I 


331  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  245 

Tibiscus,  to  retire  into  the  hilly  country,  and  to 
abandon  to  the  victorious  Sarmatians  the  fertile  plains 
of  the  Upper  Hung-ary,  which  are  bounded  by  the 
course  of  the  Danube  and  the  semi-circular  inclosure 
of  the  Carpathian  mountains. 20  In  this  advantageous 
position,  they  watched  or  suspended  the  moment  of 
attack,  as  they  were  provoked  by  injuries  or  appeased 
by  presents  ;  they  gradually  acquired  the  skill  of  using 
more  dangerous  weapons ;  and,  although  the  Sar- 
matians did  not  illustrate  their  name  by  any  memor- 
able exploits,  they  occasionally  assisted  their  eastern 
and  western  neighbours,  the  Goths  and  the  Germans, 
with  a  formidable  body  of  cavalry.  They  lived  under 
the  irregular  aristocracy  of  their  chieftians  ;  but,  after 
they  had  received  into  their  bosom  the  fugitive  Vandals, 
who  yielded  to  the  pressure  of  the  Gothic  power,  they 
seem  to  have  chosen  a  king  from  that  nation,  and  from 
the  illustrious  race  of  the  Astingi,  who  had  formerly 
dwelt  on  the  shores  of  the  Northern  ocean.  ^^ 

This  motive  of  enmity  must  have  inflamed  the 
subjects  of  contention,  which  perpetually  arise  on 
the  confines  of  warlike  and  independent  nations.  The 
Vandal  princes  were  stimulated  by  fear  and  revenge  ; 
the  Gothic  kings  aspired  to  extend  their  dominion 
from  the  Euxine  to  the  frontiers  of  Germany  :  and 
the  waters  of  the  Maros,  a  small  river  which  falls  into 
the  Theiss,  were  stained  with  the  blood  of  the  con- 
tending Barbarians.  After  some  experience  of  the 
superior  strength  and  number  of  their  adversaries,  the 
Sarmatians   implored   the   protection   of  the   Roman 

20  The  Sarmatians  Jazygae  were  settled  on  the  banks  of  the 
Pathissus  or  Tibiscus,  when  Pliny,  in  the  year  79,  published  his 
Natural  History,  In  the  time  of  Strabo  and  Ovid,  sixty  or 
seventy  years  before,  they  appear  to  have  inhabited  beyond  the 
Getas,  along  the  coast  of  the  Euxine. 

21  This  hypothesis  of  a  Vandal  king  reigning  over  Sarmatian 
subjects  seems  necessary  to  reconcile  the  Goth  Jornandes  with 
the  Greek  and  Latin  historians  of  Constantine.  It  may  be 
observed  that  Isidore,  who  lived  in  Spain  under  the  dominion 
of  the  Goths,  gives  them  for  enemies,  not  the  Vandals,  but 
the  Sarmatians. 


246  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

monarch,  wlio  beheld  with  pleasure  the  discord  of  the 
nations,  but  who  was  justly  alarmed  by  the  progress  of 
the  Gothic  arms.  As  soon  as  Constantine  had  declared 
himself  in  favour  of  the  weaker  party,  the  haughty 
Araric,  king  of  the  Goths,  instead  of  expecting  the 
attack  of  the  legions,  boldly  passed  the  Danube,  and 
spread  terror  and  devastation  through  the  province  of 
Maesia.  To  oppose  the  inroad  of  this  destroying  host, 
the  aged  emperor  took  the  field  in  person  ;  but  on 
this  occasion  either  his  conduct  or  his  fortune  betrayed 
the  glory  which  he  had  acquired  in  so  many  foreign  and 
domestic  wars.  He  had  the  mortification  of  seeing  his 
troops  fly  before  an  inconsiderable  detachment  of  the 
Barbarians,  who  pursued  them  to  the  edge  of  their 
fortified  camp  and  obliged  him  to  consult  his  safety  by 
a  precipitate  and  ignominious  retreat.  The  event  of 
a  second  and  more  successful  action  retrieved  the 
honour  of  the  Roman  name  ;  and  the  powers  of  art 
and  discipline  prevailed,  after  an  obstinate  contest, 
over  the  efforts  of  irregular  valour.  The  broken 
army  of  the  Goths  abandoned  the  field  of  battle,  the 
wasted  province,  and  the  passage  of  the  Danube  :  and, 
although  the  eldest  of  the  sons  of  Constantine  was 
permitted  to  supply  the  place  of  his  father,  the  merit 
of  the  victory,  which  diffused  universal  joy,  was 
ascribed  to  the  auspicious  counsels  of  the  emperor 
himself. 

He  contributed  at  least  to  improve  this  advantage, 
by  his  negotiations  with  the  free  and  warlike  people  of 
Chersonesus,22  whose  capital,  situate  on  the  western 
coast  of  the  Tauric  or  Crimaean  peninsula,  still  retained 

22  I  may  stand  in  need  of  some  apology  for  having  used, 
■without  scruple,  the  authority  of  Constantine  Porphyrogenitus, 
in  all  that  relates  to  the  wars  and  negotiations  of  the 
Chersonites.  I  am  aware  that  he  was  a  Greek  of  the  tenth 
century,  and  that  his  accounts  of  ancient  history  are  frequently 
confused  and  fabulous.  But  on  this  occasion  his  narrative  is, 
for  the  most  part,  consistent  and  probable  ;  nor  is  there  much 
difficulty  in  conceiving  that  an  emperor  might  have  access 
to  some  secret  archives,  which  had  escaped  the  diligence  of 
meaner  historians. 


332-334       OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  247 

some  vestiges  of  a  Grecian  colony,  and  was  governed 
by  a  perpetual  magistrate,  assisted  by  a  council  of 
senators,  emphatically  styled  the  Fathers  of  the  City. 
The  Chersonites  were  animated  against  the  Goths  by 
the  memory  of  the  wars  which,  in  the  preceding 
century,  they  had  maintained  with  unequal  forces 
against  the  invaders  of  their  country.  They  were 
connected  with  the  Romans  by  the  mutual  benefits  of 
commerce  ;  as  they  were  supplied  from  the  provinces 
of  Asia  with  corn  and  manufactures,  which  they 
purchased  with  their  only  productions,  salt,  wax,  and 
hides.  Obedient  to  the  requisition  of  Constautine, 
they  prepared,  under  the  conduct  of  their  magistrate 
Diogenes,  a  considerable  army,  of  which  the  principal 
strength  consisted  in  crossbows  and  military  chariots. 
The  speedy  march  and  intrepid  attack  of  the  Cher- 
sonites, by  diverting  the  attention  of  the  Goths,  assisted 
the  operations  of  the  imperial  generals.  The  Goths, 
vanquished  on  every  side,  were  driven  into  the  moun- 
tains,  where,  in  the  course  of  a  severe  campaign,  above 
an  hundred  thousand  were  computed  to  have  perished 
by  cold  and  hunger.  Peace  was  at  length  granted  to 
their  humble  supplications  ;  the  eldest  son  of  Araric 
was  accepted  as  the  most  valuable  hostage  ;  and  Con- 
stantine  endeavoured  to  convince  their  chiefs,  by  a 
liberal  distribution  of  honours  and  rewards,  how  far 
the  friendship  of  the  Romans  was  preferable  to  their 
enmity.  In  the  expressions  of  his  gratitude  towards 
the  faithful  Chersonites,  the  emperor  was  still  more 
magnificent.  The  pride  of  the  nation  was  gratified  by 
the  splendid  and  almost  royal  decorations  bestowed 
on  their  magistrate  and  his  successors.  A  perpetual 
exemption  from  all  duties  was  stipulated  for  their 
vessels  which  traded  to  the  ports  of  the  Black  Sea.  A 
regular  subsidy  was  promised,  of  iron,  corn,  oil,  and 
of  every  supply  which  could  be  useful  either  in  peace 
or  war.  But  it  was  thought  that  the  Sarmatiaus  were 
sufficiently  rewarded  by  their  deliverance  from  impend- 
ing ruin  ;  and  the  emperor,  perhaps  with  too  strict 
an  economy,  deducted  some  part  of  the  expenses  of 


248  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

the  war  from  the  customary  gratifications  which  were 
allowed  to  that  turbulent  nation. 

Exasperated  by  this  apparent  neglect,  the  Samatians 
soon  forgot,  with  the  levity  of  Barbarians,  the  services 
which  they  had  so  lately  received  and  the  dangers 
which  still  threatened  their  safety.  Ilieir  inroads  on 
the  territory  of  the  empire  provoked  the  indignation 
of  Constantine  to  leave  them  to  their  fate,  and  he  no 
longer  opposed  the  ambition  of  Geberic,  a  renowned 
warrior,  who  had  recently  ascended  the  Gothic  throne. 
Wisumar,  the  Vandal  king,  whilst  alone  and  unassisted 
he  defended  his  dominions  with  undaunted  courage,  was 
vanquished  and  slain  in  a  decisive  battle,  which  swept 
away  the  flower  of  the  Sarmatian  youth.  The  re- 
mainder of  the  nation  embraced  the  desperate  ex- 
pedient of  arming  their  slaves,  a  hardy  race  of  hunters 
and  herdsmen,  by  whose  tumultuary  aid  they  revenged 
their  defeat  and  expelled  the  invader  from  their 
confines.  But  they  soon  discovered  that  they  had 
exchanged  a  foreign  for  a  domestic  enemy,  more 
dangerous  and  more  implacable.  Enraged  by  their 
former  servitude,  elated  by  their  present  glory,  the 
slaves,  under  the  name  of  Limigantes,  claimed  and 
usurped  the  possession  of  the  country  which  they  had 
saved.  Their  masters,  unable  to  withstand  the  un- 
governed  fury  of  the  populace,  preferred  the  hardships 
of  exile  to  the  tyranny  of  their  servants.  Some  of  the 
fugitive  Sarmatians  solicited  a  less  ignominious  de- 
pendence, under  the  hostile  standard  of  the  Goths. 
A  more  numerous  band  retired  beyond  the  Carpathian 
mountains,  among  the  Quadi,  their  German  allies, 
and  were  easily  admitted  to  share  a  superfluous  waste 
of  uncultivated  land.  But  the  far  greater  part  of  the 
distressed  nation  turned  their  eyes  towards  the  fruitful 
provinces  of  Rome.  Imploring  the  protection  and 
forgiveness  of  the  emperor,  they  solemnly  promised, 
as  subjects  in  peace  and  as  soldiers  in  war,  the  most 
inviolable  fidelity  to  the  empire  which  should  graciously 
receive  them  into  its  bosom.    According  to  the  maxims 


337  OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  249 

adopted  by  Probus  and  his  successors,  the  offers  of  this 
Barbarian  colony  were  eagerly  accepted  ;  and  a  com- 
petent portion  of  lands,  in  the  provinces  of  Pannonia, 
Thrace,  Macedonia,  and  Italy,  were  immediately  as- 
signed for  the  habitation  and  subsistence  of  three 
hundred  thousand  Sarmatians. 

By  chastising  the  pride  of  the  Goths,  and  by  accept- 
ing the  homage  of  a  suppliant  nation,  Constantine 
asserted  the  majesty  of  the  Roman  empire  ;  and  the 
ambassadors  of  ^Ethiopia,  Persia  and  the  most  remote 
countries  of  India  congratulated  the  peace  and  pros- 
perity of  his  government.^  If  he  reckoned,  among 
the  favours  of  fortune,  the  death  of  his  eldest  son,  of 
his  nephew,  and  perhaps  of  his  wife,  he  enjoyed  an 
uninterrupted  flow  of  private  as  well  as  public  felicity, 
till  the  thirtieth  year  of  his  reign  ;  a  period  which 
none  of  his  predecessors,  since  Augustus,  had  been 
permitted  to  celebrate.  Constantine  survived  that 
solemn  festival  about  ten  months  ;  and,  at  the  mature 
age  of  sixty-four,  after  a  short  illness,  he  ended  his 
memorable  life  at  the  palace  of  Aquyrion,  in  the 
suburbs  of  Nicomedia,  whither  he  had  retired  for  the 
benefit  of  the  air,  and  with  the  hope  of  recruiting  his 
exhausted  strength  by  the  use  of  the  warm  baths. 
The  excessive  demonstrations  of  grief,  or  at  least 
of  mourning,  surpassed  whatever  had  been  practised 
on  any  former  occasion.  Notwithstanding  the  claims 
of  the  senate  and  people  of  ancient  Rome,  the  corpse 
of  the  deceased  emperor,  according  to  his  last  request, 
was  transported  to  the  city  which  was  destined  to 
preserve  the  name  and  memory  of  its  founder.  The 
body  of  Constantine,  adorned  with  the  vain  symbols 

23  Eusebius  (in  Vit.  Const.  1.  iv.  c.  50)  remarks  three  circum- 
stances relative  to  these  Indians.  i.  They  came  from  the 
shores  of  the  eastern  ocean  ;  a  description  which  might  be 
applied  to  the  coast  of  China  or  Coromandel.  2.  They  pre- 
sented shining  gems,  and  unknown  animals.  3.  They  protested 
their  kings  had  erected  statues  to  represent  the  supreme 
majesty  of  Constantine. 


250  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

of  greatness,  the  purple  and  diadem,  was  deposited  on 
a  g-olden  bed  in  one  or  the  apartments  of  the  palace, 
which  for  that  purpose  had  been  splendidly  furnished 
and  illuminated.  The  forms  of  the  court  were  strictly 
maintained.  Every  day,  at  the  appointed  hours,  the 
principal  officers  of  the  state,  the  army,  and  the  house- 
hold, approaching:  the  person  of  their  so^^ereign  with 
bended  .knees  and  a  composed  countenance,  offered 
their  respectful  homage  as  seriously  as  if  he  had  been 
still  alive.  From  motives  of  policy,  this  theatrical 
representation  was  for  some  time  continued ;  nor 
could  flattery  neglect  the  opportunity  of  remarking 
that  Constantino  a] one,  by  the  peculiar  indulgence  of 
heaven,  had  reigned  after  his  death. ^^ 

But  this  reign  could  subsist  only  in  empty  pageantry  ; 
and  it  was  soon  discovered  that  the  will  of  the  most 
absolute  monarch  is  seldom  obeyed,  when  his  subjects 
have  no  longer  anything  to  hope  from  his  favour,  or 
to  dread  from  his  resentment.  The  same  ministers 
and  generals  who  bowed  with  such  reverential  awe 
}>efor6  the  inanimate  corpse  of  their  deceased  sovereign 
were  engaged  in  secret  consultations  to  exclude  his 
two  nephews,  Dalmatius  and  Hannibalianus,  from  the 
share  which  he  had  assigned  them  in  the  succession  of 
the  empire.  We  are  too  imperfectly  acquainted  with 
the  court  of  Constantine  to  form  any  judgment  of  the 
real  motives  which  influenced  the  leaders  of  the  con- 
spiracy ;  unless  we  should  suppose  that  they  were 
actuated  by  a  spirit  of  jealousy  and  revenge  against 
the  praefect  Ablavius,  a  proud  favourite,  who  had  long 
directed  the  counsels  and  abused  the  confidence  of  the 
late  emperor.  Tlie  arguments  by  which  they  solicited 
the  concurrence  of  the  soldiers  and  people  are  of  a 
more  obvious  nature  :  and  they  might  with  decency, 
as  well   as  truth,  insist  on  the  superior  rank  of  the 

24  Constantine  had  prepared  for  himself  a  stately  tomb  in  the 
church  of  the  Holy  Apostles.  The  best,  and  indeed  almost  the 
only,  account  of  the  sickness,  death,  and  funeral  of  Constan- 
tine, is  contained  in  the  fourth  book  of  his  Life,  by  Eusebius. 


337  OF   THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  2.57 

children  of  Constantine,  the  danger  of  multiplying-  the 
number  of  sovereigns,  and  the  impending  mischiefs 
which  threatened  the  republic,  from  the  discord  of  so 
many  rival  princes,  who  were  not  connected  by  the 
tender  sympathy  of  fraternal  affection.  The  intrigue 
was  conducted  with  zeal  and  secrecy  till  a  loud  and 
unanimous  declaration  was  procured  from  the  troops 
that  they  would  suffer  none  except  the  sons  of  their 
lamented  monarch  to  reign  over  the  Roman  empire. 
The  younger  Dalmatius,  who  was  united  with  his 
collateral  relations  by  the  ties  of  friendship  and 
interest,  is  allowed  to  have  inherited  a  considerable 
share  of  the  abilities  of  the  great  Constantine  ;  but, 
on  this  occasion,  he  does  not  appear  to  have  concerted 
any  measures  for  supporting-,  by  arms,  the  just  claims 
which  himself  and  his  ro}al  brother  derived  from  the 
liberality  of  their  uncle.  Astonished  and  overwhelmed 
hy  the  tide  of  popular  fury,  they  seem  to  have  re- 
mained, without  the  power  of  flight  or  of  resistance, 
in  the  hands  of  their  implacable  enemies.  Their  fate 
was  suspended  till  the  arrival  of  Constantius,  the 
second,  and  perhaps  the  most  favoured,  of  the  sons  of 
Constantine. 

The  voice  of  the  dying  emperor  had  recommended 
the  care  of  his  funeral  to  the  piety  of  Constantius ; 
and  that  prince,  by  the  vicinity  of  his  eastern  station, 
could  easily  prevent  the  diligence  of  his  brothers,  who 
rosided  in  their  distant  government  of  Italy  and  Gaul. 
As  soon  as  he  had  taken  possession  of  the  palace  of 
Constantinople,  his  first  care  was  to  remove  the  ap- 
prehensions of  his  kinsmen  by  a  solemn  oath,  which 
he  pledged  for  their  security.  His  next  employment 
was  to  find  some  specious  pretence  which  might 
release  his  conscience  from  the  obligation  of  an  im- 
prudent promise.  The  arts  of  fraud  were  made 
subservient  to  the  designs  of  cruelty ;  and  a  manifest 
forgery  was  attested  by  a  person  of  the  most  sacred 
character.  From  the  hands  of  the  bishop  of  Nicomedia, 
Constantius  received  a  fatal  scroll  atTirmed  to  be  the 


252  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

genuine  testament  of  his  father  ;  in  which  the  emperor 
expressed  his  suspicions  that  he  had  been  poisoned  by 
his  brother  ;  and  conjured  his  sons  to  revenge  his 
death^  and  to  consult  their  own  safety  by  the  punish- 
ment of  the  guilty.  ^Fhatever  reasons  might  have 
been  alleged  by  these  unfortunate  princes  to  defend 
their  life  and  honour  against  so  incredible  an  accusa- 
tionj  they  were  silenced  by  the  furious  clamours  of 
the  soldiers,  who  declared  themselves  at  once  their 
enemies,  their  judges,  and  their  executioners.  The 
spirit,  and  even  the  forms,  of  legal  proceedings  were 
repeatedly  violated  in  a  promiscuous  massacre ;  which 
involved  the  two  uncles  of  Constantius,  seven  of  his 
cousins,  of  whom  Dalmatius  and  Hannibalianus  were 
the  most  illustrious,  the  patrician  Optatus,  who  had 
married  a  sister  of  the  late  emperor,  and  the  praefect 
Ablavius,  whose  power  and  riches  had  inspired  him 
with  some  hopes  of  obtaining  the  purple.  If  it  were 
necessary  to  aggravate  the  horrors  of  this  bloody  scene, 
we  might  add  that  Constantius  himself  had  espoused 
the  daughter  of  his  uncle  Julius,  and  that  he  had 
bestowed  his  sister  in  marriage  on  his  cousin  Hanni- 
balianus. These  alliances,  which  the  policy  of  Con- 
stantine,  regardless  of  the  public  "^^  prejudice,  had 
formed  between  the  several  branches  of  the  Imperial 
house,  served  only  to  convince  mankind  that  these 
princes  were  as  cold  to  the  endearments  of  conjugal 
aflfection,  as  they  were  insensible  to  the  ties  of  con- 
sanguinity and  the  moving  entreaties  of  youth  and 
innocence.    Of  so  numerous  a  family  Gallus  and  Julian 

25  Conjugia  sobrinarum  diu  ignorata,  temporie  addito  percre- 
buisse.  Tac.  Ann.  xii.  6,  and  Lipsius  ad  loc.  The  repeal  of 
the  ancient  law,  and  the  practice  of  five  hundred  years,  were 
insufficient  to  eradicate  the  prejudices  of  the  Romans ;  who 
still  considered  the  marriages  of  cousins-german  as  a  species 
of  imperfect  incest  ;  and  Julian,  whose  mind  was  biassed  by 
superstition  and  resentment,  stigmatises  these  unnatural  alliances 
between  his  own  cousins  with  the  opprobrious  epithet  of  ydfiujp 
re  ov  yd/JLWf.  The  jurisprudence  of  the  canons  has  since  re- 
vived and  enforced  this  prohibition,  without  being  able  to 
introduce  it  either  into  the  civil  or  the  common  law  of  Europe. 


337  OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  253 

alone^  the  two  youngest  children  of  Julius  Constantius, 
■were  saved  from  the  hands  of  the  assassins^  till  their 
rage,  satiated  with  slaughter,  had  in  some  measure 
subsided.  The  emperor  Constantius,  who,  in  the 
absence  of  his  brothers,  was  the  most  obnoxious  to 
guilt  and  reproach,  discovered,  on  some  future  occa- 
sions, a  faint  and  transient  remorse  for  those  cruel- 
ties, which  the  perfidious  counsels  of  his  ministers 
and  the  irresistible  violence  of  the  troops  had  extorted 
from  his  unexperienced  youth. ^^ 

The  massacre  of  the  Flavian  race  was  succeeded  by  a 
new  division  of  the  provinces  ;  which  was  ratified  in  a 
personal  interview  of  the  three  brothers.  Constantine, 
the  eldest  of  the  Csesars,  obtained,  with  a  certain  pre- 
eminence of  rank,  the  possession  of  the  new  capital, 
which  bore  his  own  name  and  that  of  his  father. 
Thrace  and  the  countries  of  the  east  were  allotted  for 
the  patrimony  of  Constantius  ;  and  Constans  was  ac- 
knowledged as  the  lawful  sovereign  of  Italy,  Africa, 
and  the  western  Illyricum.  The  armies  submitted  to 
their  hereditary  right  ;  and  they  condescended,  after 
some  delay,  to  accept  from  the  Roman  Senate  the  title 
of  Augustus.  When  they  first  assumed  the  reins  of 
government,  the'eldest  of  these  princes  was  twenty-one, 
the  second  twenty,  and  the  third  only  seventeen,  years 
of  age. 

AVhile  the  martial  nations  of  Europe  followed  the 
standards  of  his  brothers,  Constantius,  at  the  head  of 
the  efi"eminate  troops  of  Asia,  was  left  to  sustain  the 
weight  of  the  Persian  war.  At  the  decease  of  Con- 
stantine, the  throne  of  the  east  was  filled  by  Sapor, 
son  of  Hormouz  or  Hormisdas,  and  grandson  of  Narses, 
who,  after  the  victory  of  Galerius,  had  humbly  con- 

2^  Julian  charges  his  cousin  Constantius  with  the  whole 
guilt  of  a  massacre  from  which  he  himself  so  narrowly  escaped. 
His  assertion  is  confirmed  by  Athanasius,  who,  for  reasons  of 
a  very  different  nature,  was  not  less  an  enemy  of  Constantius 
(torn.  i.  p.  856).  Zosimus  joins  in  the  same  accusation. 
But  the  three  abbreviators,  Eutropius  and  the  Victors,  use- 
very  qualifying  expressions;  "  sinente  potius  quam  jubente  ;  " 
"  incertum  quo  suasore  ;  "  "  vi  militum." 


254  THE    DECLINi^J   AND   FALL  a.d. 

fessed  the  superiority  of  the  Roman  power.  Although 
iSapor  was  in  the  thirtieth  year  of  his  long  reign,  he 
was  still  in  the  vigour  of  youth,  as  the  date  of  his 
accession,  by  a  very  strange  fatality,  had  preceded  that 
of  his  birth.  The  wife  of  Hormouz  remained  pregnant 
at  the  time  of  her  husband's  death  ;  and  the  uncertainty 
of  the  sex,  as  well  as  of  the  event,  excited  the  ambitious 
hopes  of  the  princes  of  the  house  of  Sassan.  Tl:e 
ap|)rehensious  of  civil  war  were  at  length  removed,  by 
the  positive  assurance  of  the  Magi  that  the  widow  of 
Hormouz  had  conceived,  and  would  safely  produce,  a 
son.  Obedient  to  the  voice  of  superstition,  the  Persians 
prepared,  without  delay,  the  ceremony  of  his  coronation. 
A  royal  bed,  on  which  the  queen  lay  in  state,  was 
exhibited  in  the  midst  of  the  palace  ;  the  diadem  was 
placed  on  the  spot  which  might  be  supposed  to  conceal 
the  future  heir  of  Artaxerxes,  and  the  prostrate  Satraps 
adored  the  majesty  of  their  invisible  and  insensible 
sovereign."-^  If  any  credit  can  be  given  to  this  mar- 
vellous tale,  which  seems  however  to  be  countenanced 
by  the  manners  of  the  people  and  by  the  extraordinary 
duration  of  his  reign,  we  must  admire  not  only  the 
fortune,  but  the  genius,  of  Sapor.  In  the  soft 
sequestered  education  of  a  Persian  harem,  the  royal 
youth  could  discover  the  importance  of  exercising  the 
vigour  of  his  mind  and  body  ;  and,  by  his  personal 
merit,  deserved  a  throne,  on  which  he  had  been  seated 
while  he  was  yet  unconscious  of  the  duties  and  tempta- 
tions of  absolute  power.  His  minority  was  exposed  to 
the  almost  inevitable  calamities  of  domestic  discord ;  his 
capital  was  surprised  and  plundered  by  Thair,  a  power- 
ful king  of  Yemen,  or  Arabia  ;  and  the  majesty  of  the 
royal  family  was  degraded  by  the  captivity  of  a  princess, 
the  sister  of  the  deceased  king.  But,  as  soon  as  Sapor 
attained  the  age  of  manhood,  the  presumptuous  Thair, 
his  nation,  and  his  country  fell  beneath  the  first  effort 

•  27  Agathias,  who  lived  in  the  sixth  century,  is  the  author  of 
this  story.  He  derived  his  information  from  some  extracts  of 
the  Persian  Chronicles,  obtained  and  translated  by  the  inter- 
preter Sergius,  during  his  embassy  at  that  court. 


337  OF   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE  266 

of  the  young  warrior  ;  who  used  his  victory  with  so 
judicious  a  mixture  of  rigour  aiid  clemency  that  he 
obtained  from  the  fears  and  gratitude  of  the  Arabs  the 
title  oi  Dhoulacnaf,  or  protector  of  the  nation. 

The  ambition  of  the  Persian,  to  whom  his  enemies 
ascribe  the  virtues  of  a  soldier  and  a  statesman^  was 
animated  by  the  desire  of  revenging  the  disgrace  of  his 
fathers,  and  of  wresting  from  the  hands  of  the  Romans 
the  five  provinces  beyond  the  Tigris.  The  military 
fame  of  Constantine^  and  the  real  or  apparent  strength 
of  his  government,  suspended  the  attack  ;  and,  while 
the  hostile  conduct  of  Sapor  provoked  the  resentment, 
ills  artful  negotiations  amused  the  patience,  of  the 
imperial  court.  The  death  of  Constautine  was  the 
signal  of  war,-^  and  the  actual  condition  of  the  Syrian 
and  Armenian  frontiers  seemed  to  encourage  the 
Persians  by  the  prospect  of  a  rich  spoil  and  an  easy 
conquest.  The  example  of  the  massacres  of  the  palace 
diffused  a  spirit  of  licentiousness  and  sedition  among 
the  troops  of  the  east,  who  were  no  longer  restrained 
by  their  habits  of  obedience  to  a  veteran  commander. 
By  the  prudence  of  Constantius,  who,  from  the  inter- 
view with  his  brothers  in  Pannonia,  immediately 
hastened  to  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  the  legions 
were  gradually  restored  to  a  sense  of  duty  and  disci- 
pline ;  but  the  season  of  anarchy  had  permitted  Sapor 
to  form  the  siege  of  Nisibis,  and  to  occupy  several 
of  the  most  important  fortresses  of  Mesopotamia.  ^^  In 
Armenia,  the  renovs-ued  Tiridates  had  long  enjoyed  the 
peace  and  glory  which  he  deserved  by  his  valour  and 
fidelity  to  the  cause  of  Rome.  The  firm  alliance  which 
he   maintained   with    Constantine   was   productive    of 

28  Sextus  Rufus  (c.  26),  who  on  this  occasion  is  no  con- 
temptible authority,  affirms  that  the  Persians  sued  in  vain  for 
peace,  and  that  Constantine  was  preparing  to  march  against 
them  :  yet  the  superior  weight  of  the  testimony  of  Eusebius 
obliges  us  to  admit  the  preliminaries,  if  not  the  ratification,  of 
the  treaty. 

29  From  some  successes  gained  possibly  in  the  campaign  of 
this  year  Constantius  won  the  title  of  Adiabenicus  Maximus. 


256  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

spiritual  as  well  as  of  temporal  benefits  :  by  the  con- 
version of  Tiridates,  the  character  of  a  saint  was  applied 
to  that  of  a  hero_,  the  Christian  faith  was  preached  and 
established  from  the  Euphrates  to  the  shores  of  the 
Caspian_,  and  Armenia  was  attached  to  the  empire  by 
the  double  ties  of  policy  and  of  religion.  But,  as  many 
of  the  Armenian  nobles  still  refused  to  abandon  the 
plurality  of  their  gods  and  of  their  wives,  the  public 
tranquillity  was  disturbed  by  a  discontented  faction, 
which  insulted  the  feeble  age  of  their  sovereign,  and 
impatiently  expected  the  hour  of  his  death.  He  died 
at  length  after  a  reign  of  fifty-six  years,  and  the  fortune 
of  the  Armenian  monarchy  expired  with  Tiridates. 
His  lawful  heir  was  driven  into  exile,  the  Christian 
priests  were  either  murdered  or  expelled  from  their 
churches,  the  barbarous  tribes  of  Albania  were  solicited 
to  descend  from  their  mountains  ;  and  two  of  the 
most  powerful  governors,  usurping  the  ensigns  or  the 
powers  of  royalty,  implored  the  assistance  of  Sapor, 
and  opened  the  gates  of  their  cities  to  the  Persian 
garrisons.  The  Christian  party,  under  the  guidance 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Artaxata,  the  immediate  successor 
of  St.  Gregory  the  Illuminator,  had  recourse  to  the 
piety  of  Constantius.  After  the  troubles  had  continued 
about  three  years,  Antiochus,  one  of  the  officers  of  the 
household,  executed  with  success  the  imperial  com- 
mission of  restoring  Chosroes,  the  son  of  Tiridates,  to 
the  throne  of  his  fathers,  of  distributing  honours  and 
rewards  among  the  faithful  servants  of  the  house  of 
Arsaces,  and  of  proclaiming  a  general  amnesty,  which 
was  accepted  by  the  greater  part  of  the  rebellious 
Satraps.  But  the  Romans  derived  more  honour  than 
advantage  from  this  revolution.  Chosroes  was  a  prince 
of  a  puny  stature,  and  a  pusillanimous  spirit.  Unequal 
to  the  fatigues  of  war,  averse  to  the  society  of  man- 
kind, he  withdrew  from  his  capital  to  a  retired  palace, 
which  he  built  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Eleutherus, 
and  in  the  centre  of  a  shady  grove  ;  where  he  consumed 
his  vacant  hours  in  the  rural  sports  of  hunting  and 
hawking.     To  secure  this  inglorious  ease,  he  submitted 


338  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  257 

to  the  conditions  of  ])eace  Avhich  Sapor  condescended 
to  impose  ;  the  payment  of  an  annual  tribute,  and  the 
restitution  of  the  fertile  province  of  Atropatene,  which 
the  courag-e  of  Tiridates  and  the  victorious  ai-ms  of 
Galerius  had  annexed  to  the  Armenian  monarchy. ^^ 

During  the  long-  period  of  the  reign  of  Constantius, 
the  provinces  of  the  east  were  afflicted  by  the  calamities 
of  the  Persian  war.  The  irregular  incursions  of  the 
light  troops  alternately  spread  terror  and  devastation 
beyond  the  Tigris  and  beyond  the  Euphrates,  from 
the  gates  of  Ctesiphon  to  those  of  Antioch  ;  and  this 
active  service  was  performed  by  the  Arabs  of  the 
desert,  who  were  divided  in  their  interest  and  affec- 
tions ;  some  of  their  independent  chiefs  being  enlisted 
in  the  party  of  Sapor,  whilst  others  had  engaged  their 
doubtful  fidelity  to  the  emperor,  ^i  The  more  grave 
and  important  operations  of  the  war  were  conducted 
with  equal  vigour  ;  and  the  armies  of  Rome  and  Persia 
encountered  each  other  in  nine  bloody  fields,  in  two 
of  which  Constantius  himself  commanded  in  person. 
The  event  of  the  day  was  most  commonly  adverse  to 
the  Romans,  but  in  the  battle  of  Singara  their  im- 
prudent valour  had  almost  achieved  a  signal  and 
decisive  victory.  The  stationary  troops  of  Singara 
retired  on  the  approach  of  Sapor,  who  passed  tlte 
Tigris  over  three  bridges,  and  occupied  near  the  village 
of  Hilleh  an  advantageous  camp,  which,  by  the  labour 
of  his  numerous  pioneers,  he  surrounded  in  one  day 
with  a  deep  ditch  and  a  lofty  rampart.     His  formidable 

30  The  perfect  agreement  between  the  vague  hints  of  the  con- 
temporary orator  and  the  circumstantial  narrative  of  the  national 
historian  gives  light  to  the  former  and  weight  to  the  latter. 
For  the  credit  of  Moses  it  may  be  likewise  observed  that  the 
name  of  Antiochus  is  found  a  few  years  before  in  a  civil  office 
of  inferior  dignity. 

31  Ammianus  (xiv.  4)  gives  a  lively  description  of  the  wander- 
ing and  predatory  life  of  the  Saracens,  who  stretched  from  the 
confines  of  Assyria  to  the  cataracts  of  the  Nile.  It  appears 
from  the  adventures  of  Malchus,  which  Jerom  has  related  in  so 
entertaining  a  manner,  that  the  high  road  between  Beroea  and 
Edessa  was  infested  by  these  robbers. 

VOL.    II.  I 


258  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

host,  when  it  was  drawn  out  in  order  of  battle,  covered 
the  banks  of  the  river,  the  adjacent  heights,  and  the 
whole  extent  of  a  plain  of  above  twelve  miles,  which 
separated  the  two  armies.  Both  were  alike  impatient 
to  engage  ;  but  the  Barbarians,  after  a  slight  resistance, 
fled  in  disorder  ;  unable  to  resist,  or  desirous  to  weary, 
the  strength  of  the  heavy  legions,  who,  fainting  u-ith 
heat  and  thirst,  pursued  them  across  thfe  plain,  and 
cut  in  pieces  a  line  of  cavalry,  clothed  in  complete 
armour,  which  had  been  posted  before  the  gates  of  the 
camp  to  protect  tlieir  retreat.  Constantius,  who  was 
hurried  along  in  the  pursuit,  attempted,  without  effect, 
to  restrain  the  ardour  of  his  troops,  by  representing  to 
them  the  dangers  of  the  approaching  night  and  the 
certainty  of  completing  their  success  with  the  return 
of  day.  As  they  depended  much  more  on  their  own 
valour  than  on  the  experience  or  the  abilities  of  their 
chief,  they  silenced  by  their  clamours  his  timid  remon- 
strances ;  and  rushing  with  fury  to  the  charge  tilled 
up  the  ditch,  broke  down  the  rampart,  and  dispersed 
themselves  through  the  tents,  to  recruit  their  exhausted 
strength  and  to  enjoy  the  rich  harvest  of  their  labours. 
But  the  prudent  Sapor  had  watched  the  moment  of 
victory.  His  army,  of  which  the  greater  part,  securely 
posted  on  the  heights,  had  been  spectators  of  the  action, 
advanced  in  silence,  and  under  the  shadow  of  the  night; 
and  his  Persian  archers,  guided  by  the  illumination  of 
the  camp,  poured  a  shower  of  arrows  on  a  disarmed 
and  licentious  crowd.  The  sincerity  of  history  declares 
that  the  Romans  were  vanquished  with  a  dreadful 
slaughter,  and  that  the  flying  remnant  of  the  legions 
was  exposed  to  the  most  intolerable  hardships.  Even 
the  tenderness  of  panegyric,  confessing  that  the  glory 
of  the  emperor  was  sullied  by  the  disobedience  of  his 
soldiers,  chooses  to  draw  a  veil  over  the  circumstances 
of  this  melancholy  retreat.  Yet  one  of  those  venal 
orators,  so  jealous  of  the  fame  of  Constantius,  relates 
with  amazing  coolness  an  act  of  such  incredible  cruelty, 
as,  in  the  judgment  of  posterity,  must  imprint  a  far 
deeper  stain  on  the  honour  of  the  imperial  name.     The 


337-360       OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  259 

son  of  !>apor,  the  heir  of  his  crown,  had  been  made  a 
captive  in  the  Perbiau  camp.  The  unhappy  youth, 
who  might  have  excited  the  compassion  of  the  most 
savage  enemy,  was  scourged,  tortured,  and  publicly 
executed  by  the  inhuman   Romans. 

^Vhatever  advantages  might  attend  the  arms  of 
Sapor  in  the  field,  though  nine  repeated  victories 
diffused  among  the  nations  the  fame  of  his  valour  and 
conduct,  he  could  not  hope  to  succeed  in  the  execution 
of  his  designs,  while  the  fortified  towns  of  Mesopotamia, 
and,  above  all,  the  strong  and  ancient  city  of  Nisibis, 
remained  in  the  possession  of  the  Romans.  In  the 
space  of  twelve  years,  Nisibis,  which,  since  the  time  of 
Lucullus,  had  been  deservedly  esteemed  the  bulwark 
of  the  east,  sustained  three  memorable  sieges  against 
the  power  of  Sapor,  and  the  disappointed  monarch, 
after  urging  his  attacks  above  sixty,  eighty,  and  an 
hundred  days,  was  thrice  repulsed  with  loss  and 
ignominy.  This  large  and  populous  city  was  situate 
about  two  days'  journey  from  the  Tigris,  in  the  midst 
of  a  pleasant  and  fertile  plain  at  the  foot  of  Mount 
Masius.  A  treble  inclosure  of  brick  walls  was  defended 
by  a  deep  ditch  ;  ^^  and  the  intrepid  assistance  of 
Count  Luciliauus  and  his  garrison  was  seconded  by 
the  desperate  courage  of  the  people.  The  citizens  of 
Nisibis  were  animated  by  the  exhortations  of  their 
bishop,^^  enured  to  arms  by  the  presence  of  danger, 
and  convinced  of  the  intentions  of  Sapor  to  plant  a 
Persian  colony  in  their  room  and  to  lead  them  away 
into  distant  and  barbarous  captivity.  The  event  of 
the    two    former  sieges    elated  their   confidence,    and 

32  Nisibis  is  now  reduced  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  houses ; 
the  marshy  lands  produce  rice,  and  the  fertile  meadows  as  far 
as  Mosul  and  the  Tigris,  are  covered  with  the  ruins  of  towns 
and  villages. 

23  Tne  miracles  which  Theodoret  (1.  ii.  c.  30)  ascribes  to  St. 
James,  Bishop  of  Edessa,  were  at  least  performed  in  a  worthy 
cause,  the  defence  of  his  country.  He  appeared  on  the  walls 
under  the  figure  of  the  Roman  emperor,  and  sent  an  army  of 
gnats  to  sting  the  trunks  of  the  elephants,  and  to  discomfit  the 
host  of  the  new  Senacherib. 


2C0  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

exasperated  the  haughty  spirit  of  the  Great  King,  who 
advanced  a  third  time  towards  Nisibis,  at  the  head  of 
the  united  forces  of  Persia  and  India.  The  ordinary 
machines  invented  to  batter  or  undermine  the  walls 
were  rendered  ineffectual  by  the  superior  skill  of  the 
Romans ;  and  many  days  had  vainly  elar.sed,  when 
Sapor  embraced  a  resolution,  worthy  of  an  eastern 
monarch,  who  believed  that  tlie  elements  themselves 
were  subject  to  his  power.  At  the  stated  season  of  the 
melting  of  the  snows  in  Armenia,  the  river  JMygdonius, 
which  divides  the  plain  and  the  city  of  Nisibis,  forms, 
like  the  Nile,^''  an  inundation  over  the  adjacent  countrj-. 
]Jy  the  labour  of  the  Persians,  the  course  of  the  river 
was  stopped  below  the  town,  and  the  waters  were  con- 
fined on  every  side  by  solid  mounds  of  earth.  On  this 
artificial  lake,  a  fleet  of  armed  vessels,  filled  with 
soldiers  and  with  engines  which  discharged  stones  of 
five  hundred  pounds  weight,  advanced  in  order  of 
battle,  and  engaged,  almost  upon  a  level,  the  troops 
which  defended  the  ramparts.  The  irresistible  force 
of  the  waters  was  alternately  fatal  to  the  contending 
parties,  till  at  length  a  portion  of  the  walls,  unable  to 
sustain  the  accumulated  pressure,  gave  way  at  once, 
and  exposed  an  ample  breach  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
feet.  The  Persians  were  instantly  driven  to  the  assault, 
and  the  fate  of  Nisibis  depended  on  the  event  of  the 
day.  The  heavy  armed  cavalry,  who  led  the  van  of  a 
deep  column,  were  embarrassed  in  the  mud,  and  great 
numbers  were  drowned  in  the  unseen  holes  which  had 
been  filled  by  the  rushing  waters.  The  elephants, 
made  furious  by  their  wounds,  increased  the  disorder, 
and  trampled  down  thousands  of  the  Persian  archers. 
Tlie  Great  King,  who,  from  an  exalted  throne,  beheld 
the  misfortunes  of  his  arms,  sounded,  with  relucUintj 

3-1  Julian.  Orat.  i.  p.  27.  Though  Niebuhr  (torn.  ii.  p.  307) 
allows  a  very  considerable  swell  to  the  Mygdonius,  over  which 
he  saw  a  bridge  of  twelve  arches ;  it  is  difficult,  however,  tc 
understand  this  parallel  of  a  trifling  rivulet  with  a  mighty  river. 
There  are  many  circumstances  obscure,  and  almost  unintel 
ligible,  in  the  description  of  these  stupendous  water  works. 


360  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  261 

iudignation,  the  signal  of  the  retreat,  and  suspended 
for  some  hours  the  prosecution  of  the  attack,  liut  the 
vigilant  citizens  improved  the  opportunity  of  the  night ; 
and  the  return  of  day  discovered  a  new  wail  of  six  feet 
in  height,  rising  every  moment  to  hll  up  the  interval 
of  the  breach.  Notwithstanding  the  disappointment 
of  his  hopes,  and  the  loss  of  more  than  twenty  thousand 
men,  Sapor  still  pressed  the  reduction  of  Nisibis,  with 
an  obstinate  firmness  which  could  ha\e  yielded  only  to 
the  necessity  of  defending  the  eastern  provinces  of 
Persia  against  a  formidable  invasion  of  the  Massagette. 
Alarmed  by  this  intelligence,  he  hastily  relinquished 
the  siege,  and  marched  with  rapid  diligence  from  the 
banks  of  the  Tigris  to  those  of  the  Oxus.  The  danger 
and  difficulties  of  the  Scythian  war  engaged  him  soon 
afterwards  to  conclude,  or  at  least  to  observe,  a  truce 
with  the  Roman  emperor,  which  was  equally  grateful 
to  both  princes ;  as  Constantius  himself,  after  the 
deaths  of  his  two  brothers,  was  involved,  by  the  revolu- 
tions of  the  westj  in  a  civil  contest,  which  required 
and  seemed  to  exceed  the  most  vigorous  exertion  of 
his  undivided  strength. 

After  the  partition  of  the  emj)ire  three  years  had 
scarcely  elapsed,  before  the  sons  of  Constantine  seemed 
impatient  to  convince  mankind  that  they  were  incap- 
able of  contenting  themselves  with  the  dominions  which 
they  were  unqualified  to  erovern.  The  eldest  of  those 
princes  soon  complained  that  he  was  defrauded  of  his 
just  proportion  of  the  spoils  of  their  murdered  kins- 
men ;  and,  though  he  might  yield  to  the  superior 
guilt  and  merit  of  Constantius,  he  exacted  from 
Constans  the  cession  of  the  African  provinces,  as  an 
equivalent  for  the  rich  countries  of  Macedonia  and 
Greece,  which  his  brother  had  acquired  by  the  death 
of  Dalmatius,  The  want  of  sincerity  which  Constantine 
experienced  in  a  tedious  and  fruitless  negotiation  ex- 
asperated the  fierceness  of  his  temper  ;  and  he  eagerly 
listened  to  those  favourites  who  suggested  to  him  that 
his  honour,  as  well  as  his  interest,  was  concerned  in 
the    prosecution   of  the    quarrel.     At   the   head    of  a 


262  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

tumultuary  band,  suited  for  rapine  rather  than  for 
conquest,  he  suddenly  broke  into  the  dominions  of 
Constans,  by  the  way  of  the  Julian  Alps,  and  the 
country  round  Aquileia  felt  the  first  effects  of  hi« 
resentment.  The  measures  of  Constans,  who  then 
resided  in  Dacia,  were  directed  with  more  prudence 
and  ability.  On  the  news  of  his  brother's  invasion,  he 
despatched  a  select  and  disciplined  body  of  his  lllyrian 
troops,  proposing^  to  follow  them  in  person  with  the 
remainder  of  his  forces.  But  the  conduct  of  his 
lieutenants  soon  terminated  the  unnatural  contest 
By  the  artful  appearances  of  flierht,  Constantine  was 
betrayed  into  an  ambuscade,  which  had  been  concealed 
in  a  wood,  where  the  rash  youth,  with  a  few  attendants, 
was  surprised,  surrounded,  and  slain.  His  body,  after 
it  had  been  found  in  the  obscure  stream  of  the  Alsa, 
obtained  the  honours  of  an  imperial  sepulchre  ;  but  his 
provinces  transferred  their  allegiance  to  the  conqueror, 
who,  refusing-  to  admit  his  elder  brother  Constantius 
to  any  share  in  these  new  acquisitions,  maintained  the 
undisputed  possession  of  more  than  two-thirds  of  the 
B'.rnan  empire.^* 

The  fate  of  Constans  himself  was  delayed  about  ten 
years  longer,  and  the  revenge  of  his  brother's  der.;h 
was  reserved  for  the  more  ignoble  hand  of  a  domestic 
traitor.  Tlie  pernicious  tendency  of  the  system  intro- 
duced by  Constantine  was  displayed  in  the  feeble 
administration  of  his  sons  ;  who,  by  their  vices  and 
weakness,  soon  lost  the  esteem  and  affections  of  their 
people.  The  pride  assumed  by  Constans,  from  the 
unmerited  success  of  his  arms,  was  rendered  more 
contemptible  by  his  want  of  abilities  and  application. 
His  fond  partiality  towards  some  German  captives, 
distinguished   only  by  the   charms   of  youth,  was  an 

35  The  causes  and  the  events  of  this  civil  war  are  related  with 
much  perplexity  and  contradiction.  I  have  chiefly  followed 
Zonaras,  and  the  younger  Victor.  The  monody  pronounced 
on  the  death  of  Constantine,  might  have  been  very  instructive  ; 
but  prudence  and  false  taste  engaged  the  orator  to  involve  him- 
self in  vague  declamation. 


350  OF  THE    ROMAN   EMPIRE  263 

object  of  scandal  to  the  people  ;  ^^  and  Magnentius,  an 
ambitious  soldier,  who  was  himself  of  barbarian  extrac- 
tion, was  encouraged  by  the  public  discontent  to  assert 
the  honour  of  the  Roman  name.^''  The  chosen  bands 
of  Jovians  and  Herculians^  who  acknowledged  Mag- 
nentius  as  their  leader^  maintained  the  most  respectable 
and  important  station  in  the  Imperial  camp.  The 
friendship  of  Marcellinus,  count  of  tlie  sacred  largesses, 
supplied  with  a  liberal  hand  the  means  of  seduction. 
Tlie  soldiers '  were  convinced,  by  the  most  specious 
arguments,  that  the  republic  summoned  them  to  break 
the  bonds  of  hereditary  servitude  and,  by  the  choic'e  of 
an  active  and  vigilant  prince,  to  reward  the  same 
virtues  which  had  raised  the  ancestors  of  the  de- 
generate Constans  from  a  private  condition  to  the 
throne  of  the  world.  As  soon  as  the  conspiracy  was 
ripe  for  execution,  Marcellinus,  under  the  pretence 
of  celebrating  his  son's  birthday,  gave  a  splendid  enter- 
tainment to  the  illustrious  and  honourable  persons  of 
the  court  of  Gaul,  which  then  resided  in  the  city  of 
Autun.  The  intemperance  of  the  feast  was  artfully 
protracted  till  a  very  late  houi-  of  the  night  ;  and  the 
unsuspecting  guests  were  tempted  to  indulge  them- 
selves in  a  dangerous  and  guilty  freedom,  of  conversa- 
tion. On  a  sudden  the  doors  were  thrown  open,  and 
Magnentius,  who  had  retired  for  a.  few  moments, 
returned  into  the  apartment,  invested  with  the  diadem 
and   purple.     The  conspirators  instantly  saluted   him 

36  Quarum  {gentium)  obsides  pretio  quaesitos  pueros  venus- 
tiores,  quod  ciiltius  habuerat,  libidine  hujusmodi  arsisse  pro 
certo  habetur.  Had  not  the  depraved  tastes  of  Constans  been 
publicly  avowed,  the  elder  Victor,  who  held  a  considerable 
office  in  his  brother's  reign,  would  not  have  asserted  it  in  such 
positive  terms. 

37  Victor  in  Epitome.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  Mag- 
nentius was  born  in  one  of  those  Barbarian  Colonies  which 
Constantius  Chlorus  had  established  in  Gaul,  His  behaviour 
may  remind  us  of  the  patriot  Earl  of  Leicester,  the  famous 
Simon  de  Montfort,  who  could  persuade  the  good  people  of 
England  that  he,  a  Frenchman  by  birth,  had  taken  arms  to 
deliver  them  from  foreisfn  favourites. 


264  THE    DECLINE   AND    FALL  a.d. 

with  the  titles  of  Augustus  and  Emperor.  The  surprise, 
the  terror,  the  intoxication,  the  ambitious  hopes,  and 
the  mutual  ignorance  of  the  rest  of  the  assembly, 
prompted  them  to  join  their  voices  to  the  general 
acclamation.  The  guards  hastened  to  take  the  oath 
of  fidelity;  the  gates  of  the  town  were  shut;  and, 
before  the  dawn  of  day,  Magnentius  became  master  of 
the  troops  and  treasure  of  the  palace  and  city  of  Autun. 
By  his  secrecy  and  diligence  he  entertained  some  hopes 
of  surprising  the  person  of  Constans,  who  was  pursuing 
in  the  adjacent  forest  his  favourite  amusement  cf 
hunting,  or  perhaps  some  pleasures  of  a  more  private 
and  criminal  nature.  The  rapid  progress  of  fame 
allowed  him,  however,  an  instant  for  flight,  though 
the  desertion  of  his  soldiers  and  subjects  deprived  him 
of  the  power  of  resistance.  Before  he  could  reach  a 
seaport  in  Spain,  where  he  intended  to  embark,  he 
was  overtaken  near  Helena,^^  at  the  foot  of  the 
Pyrenees,  by  a  party  of  light  cavalry,  whose  chief, 
regardless  of  the  sanctity  of  a  temple,  executed  his 
commission  by  the  murder  of  the  son  of  Constantine. 

As  soon  as  the  death  of  Constans  had  decided  this 
easy  but  important  revolution,  the  example  of  the 
court  of  Autun  was  imitated  by  the  provinces  of  the 
west.  The  authority  of  Magnentius  was  acknowledged 
through  the  whole  extent  of  the  tvro  great  praefectures 
of  Gaul  and  Italy  ;  and  the  usurper  prepared,  by  every 
act  of  oppression,  to  collect  a  treasure,  which  miglit 
discharge  the  obligation  of  an  immense  donative  ajid 
supply  the  expenses  of  a  civil  war.  The  martial 
countries  of  lllyricum,  from  the  Danube  to  the  ex- 
tremity of  Greece,  had  long  obeyed  the  government 
of  Vetranio,  an  aged  general,  beloved  for  the  simplicity 
of  his  manners,  and  who  had  acquired  some  reputation 

58  This  ancient  city  had  once  flourished  under  the  name  of 
Illiberis  (Pomponius  Mela,  ii.  5).  The  munificence  of  Con- 
stantine gave  it  new  splendour,  and  his  mother's  name.  Helena 
(it  is  still  called  Elne)  became  the  seat  of  a  bishop,  who  long 
afterwards  transferred  his  residence  to  Perpignan,  the  capital 
of  modern  Rousillon. 


350  OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  265 

by  his  experience  and  services  in  war.^  Attached,  by 
habit,  by  duty,  and  by  gratitude,  to  the  house  of 
Coii>tantine,  he  immediately  gave  the  strongest  assur- 
ance;^  to  the  only  surviving  son  of  his  late  master  that 
he  would  expose,  with  unshaken  fidelity,  his  person 
and  his  troops,  to  inflict  a  just  revenge  on  the  traitors 
of  Gaul.  But  the  legions  of  Vetranio  were  seduced 
rather  than  provoked  by  the  example  of  rebellion  ; 
their  leader  soon  betrayed  a  want  of  firmness,  or  a 
want  of  sincerity  ;  and  his  ambition  derived  a  specious 
pretence  from  the  approbation  of  the  })rincess  Con- 
stantina.  Tliat  cruel  and  aspiring  woman,  who  had 
obtained  from  the  great  Constantino  her  father  the 
rank  of  Augusta,  placed  the  diadem  with  her  own 
hands  on  the  head  of  the  Illyrian  general  ;  and  seemed 
to  expect  from  his  victory  the  accomplishment  of  those 
unbounded  hopes  of  which  she  had  been  disappointed 
by  the  death  of  her  husband  Hannibalianus.  Perhaps 
it  was  without  the  consent  of  Constantina  that  the  new 
em])eror  formed  a  necessary,  though  dishonourable, 
alliance  with  the  usurper  of  the  west,  whose  purple 
was  so  recently  stained  with  her  brother's  blood. 

The  intelligence  of  these  important  events,  which  so 
deeply  affected  the  honour  and  safety  of  the  Imperial 
house,  recalled  the  arms  of  Constantius  from  the 
inglorious  prosecution  of  the  Persian  war.  He  re- 
commended the  care  of  the  east  to  his  lieutenants, 
and  afterwards  to  his  cousin  Gallus,  whom  he  raised 
fi'om  a  prison  to  a  throne ;  and  marched  towards 
Europe,  with  a  mind  agitated  by  the  conflict  of  hope 
and  fear,  of  grief  and  indignation.  On  his  arrival  at 
Heraclea  in  Thrace,  the  emperor  gave  audience  to  the 
ambassadors  of  Magnentius  and  Vetranio.  The  first 
author  of  the  conspiracy,  Marcellinus,  who  in  some 
measure  had  bestowed  the  purple  on  his  new  master, 

39  Eutropius  (x.  lo)  describes  Vetranio  with  more  temper, 
and  probably  with  more  truth,  than  either  of  the  two  Victors. 
Vetranio  was  born  of  obscure  parents  in  the  wildest  parts  of 
Maesia ;  and  so  much  had  his  education  been  neglected  that, 
after  his  elevation,  he  studied  the  alphabet. 

VOL.  II.  I  2 


266  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

boldly  accepted  this  dangerous  commission  ;  and  his 
three  colleagues  were  selected  from  the  illustrious 
personages  of  the  state  and  army.  These  deputies 
were  instructed  to  soothe  the  resentment,  and  to 
alarm  the  fears,  of  Constantius.  Tliey  were  empowered 
to  offer  him  tlie  friendship  and  alliance  of  the  western 
princes,  to  cement  their  union  by  a  double  marriag-e  ; 
of  Constantius  with  the  daughter  of  Magnentius,  and 
of  Magnentius  himself  with  the  ambitious  Constantina  ; 
and  to  acknowledge  in  the  treaty  the  pre-eminence  o: 
rank,  which  might  justly  be  claimed  by  the  emperor 
of  the  east.  Should  pride  and  mistaken  piety  urge 
him  to  refuse  these  equitable  conditions,  the  ambassa- 
dors were  ordered  to  expatiate  on  the  inevitable  ruin 
which  must  attend  his  rashness,  if  he  ventured  to 
provoke  the  sovereigns  of  the  west  to  exert  their 
superior  strength  and  to  employ  against  him  that 
valour,  those  abilities,  and  those  legions,  to  which  the 
house  of  Constantino  had  been  indebted  for  so  many 
triumphs.  Such  propositions  and  such  arguments 
appeared  to  deserve  the  most  serious  attention  ;  the 
answer  of  Constantius  was  deferred  till  the  next  day ; 
and,  as  he  had  reflected  on  the  importance  of  justify- 
ing a  civil  war  in  the  opinion  of  the  people,  he  thus 
addressed  his  council,  who  listened  with  real  or 
affected  credulity:  '*  Last  night,"  said  he,  ''after  I 
retired  to  rest,  the  shade  of  the  great  Constantine, 
embracing  the  corpse  of  my  murdered  brother,  rose 
before  my  eyes  ;  his  well-known  voice  awakened  me 
to  revenge,  forbade  me  to  despair  of  the  republic,  and 
assured  me  of  the  success  and  immortjil  glory  which 
would  crown  the  justice  of  my  arms."  The  authority 
of  such  a  vision,  or  rather  of  the  prince  who  alleged 
it,  silenced  every  doubt,  and  excluded  all  negotiation. 
The  ignominious  terms  of  peace  w^ere  rejected  with 
disdain.  One  of  the  ambassadors  of  the  tyrant  was 
dismissed  with  the  haughty  answer  of  Constantius  ; 
his  colleagues,  as  unworthy  of  the  privileges  of  the 
law  of  nations,  were  put  in  irons  ;  and  the  contending 
powers  prepared  to  watre  an  implacable  war. 


350  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  267 

Such  was  the  conduct,  and  such  perhaps  was  the 
duty^  of  the  brother  of  Constans  towards  tlje  perfidious 
usurper  of  Gaul,  The  situation  and  character  of 
Vetranio  admitted  of  milder  measures  ;  and  the  policy 
of  the  eastern  eniperor  was  directed  to  disunite  his 
antagonists,  and  to  separate  the  forces  of  lllyricum 
from  the  cause  of  rebellion.  It  was  an  easy  task  to 
deceive  the  frankness  and  simplicity  of  V^etranio,  who, 
fluctuating  some  time  between  the  opposite  views  of 
honour  and  interest,  displayed  to  the  world  the  in- 
sincerity of  his  temper,  and  was  insensibly  engaged  in 
the  snares  of  an  artful  negotiation.  Constantius  ac- 
knowledged him  as  a  legitimate  ayd  equal  colleague  in 
the  empire,  on  condition  that  he  would  renounce  his 
disgraceful  alliance  with  Maguentius  and  appoint  a 
place  of  interview  on  the  frontiers  of  their  respective 
provinces^  where  they  might  pledge  their  friendship 
by  mutual  vows  of  fidelity  and  regulate  by  couimon 
consent  the  future  operations  of  the  civil  war.  In 
consequence  of  this  agreement,  Vetranio  advanced  to 
the  city  of  Sardica,^*^  at  the  head  of  twenty  thousand 
horse  and  of  a  more  numerous  body  of  infantry  ;  a 
power  so  far  superior  to  the  forces  of  Constantius  that 
the  lllyrian  emperor  appeared  to  command  the  life 
and  fortunes  of  his  rival,  who,  depending  on  the 
success  of  his  private  negotiations,  had  seduced  the 
troops,  and  undermined  the  throne,  of  Vetranio.  The 
chiefs,  who  had  secretly  embraced  the  party  of 
Constantius,  prepared  in  his  favour  a  public  spectacle, 
calculated  to  discover  and  inflame  the  passions  of  the 
multitude.  The  united  armies  were  commanded  to 
assemble  in  a  large  plain  near  the  city.  In  the  centre, 
according  to  the  rules  of  ancient  discipline,  a  military 
tribunal,  or  rather  scafl^old,  was  erected,  from  whence 
the  emperors  were  accustomed,  on  solemn  and  im- 
portant occasions,  to  harangue  the  troops.     The  well- 

■^  The  position  of  Sardica,  near  the  modern  city  of  Sophia, 
appears  better  suited  to  this  interview  than  the  situation  of  either 
Naissus  or  Sirmium,  where  it  is  placed  by  Jerom,  Socrates,  and 
Sozomen. 


268  THE  DECLINE  AND   FALL  a.d. 

ordered  ranks  of  Romans  and  Barbarians,  with  drawn 
gwords  or  with  erected  spears,  the  squadrons  of  cavalry 
and  the  cohorts  of  infantry,  distinguished  by  the 
variety  of  their  arms  and  ensigns,  formed  an  immense 
circle  round  the  tribunal  ;  and  the  attentive  silence 
which  they  preserved  was  sometimes  interrupted  by 
loud  bursts  of  clamour  or  of  applause.  In  the  presence 
of  this  formidable  assembly,  the  two  emperors  were 
called  upon  to  explain  the  situation  of  public  affairs  : 
the  precedency  of  rank  was  yielded  to  the  royal  birth 
of  Constantius  ;  and,  though  he  was  indifferently  skilled 
in  the  arts  of  rhetoric,  he  acquitted  himself,  under 
these  difficult  circumstances,  with  firmness,  dexterity, 
and  eloquence.  The  first  part  of  his  oration  seemed 
to  be  pointed  only  against  the  tyrant  of  Gaul  ;  but, 
while  he  tragically  lamented  the  cruel  murder  of 
Constans,  he  insinuated  that  none,  except  a  brother, 
could  claim  a  right  to  the  succession  of  his  brother. 
He  displayed,  with  some  complacency,  the  glories  of 
his  Imperial  race  ;  and  recalled  to  the  memory  of  the 
troops  the  valour,  the  triumphs,  the  liberality  of  the 
great  Constantine,  to  whose  sons  they  had  engaged 
their  allegiance  by  an  oath  of  fidelity,  which  the  in- 
gratitude of  his  most  favoured  servants  had  tempted 
them  to  violate.  The  officers,  who  surrounded  the 
tribunal  and  were  instructed  to  act  their  parts  in  this 
extraordinary  scene,  confessed  the  irresistible  power 
of  reason  and  eloquence  by  saluting  the  emperor 
Constantius  as  their  lawful  sovereign.  The  contagion 
of  loyalty  and  repentance  was  communicated  from 
rank  to  rank  ;  till  the  plain  of  Sardica  resounded  with 
the  universal  acclamation  of  ^*  Away  with  these  upstart 
usurpers  !  Long  life  and  victory  to  the  son  of  Con- 
stantine !  Under  his  banners  alone  we  will  fight  and 
conquer."  The  shout  of  thousands,  their  menacing 
gestures,  the  fierce  clashing  of  their  arms,  astonished 
and  subdued  the  courage  of  Vetranio,  who  stood, 
amidst  the  defection  of  his  followers,  in  anxious  and 
silent  suspense.  Instead  of  embracing  the  last  refuge 
of  generous  despair,  he  tamely  submitted  to  his  fate  ; 


351  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  269 

and  takino-  the  diadem  from  bis  head^  in  view  of  both 
armies,  fell  prostrate  at  the  feet  of  bis  conqueror. 
Constantius  used  bis  victory  with  prudence  and 
moderation  ;  and  raising  from  the  ground  the  aged 
suppliant,  whom  be  affected  to  style  by  the  endearing 
name  of  Father,  he  gave  him  his  hand  to  descend 
from  the  throne.  The  city  of  Prusa  was  assigned  for 
the  exile  or  retirement  of  the  abdicated  monarch,  who 
lived  six  years  in  the  enjoyment  of  ease  and  affluence. 
He  often  expressed  his  grateful  sense  of  the  goodness 
of  Constantius,  and,  with  a  very  amiable  simplicity, 
advised  bis  benefactor  to  resign  the  sceptre  of  the 
world,  and  to  seek  for  content  (where  alone  it  could 
be  found)  in  the  peaceful  obscurity  of  a  private 
condition. ■** 

The  behaviour  of  Constantius  on  this  memorable 
occasion  was  celebrated  with  some  appearance  of 
justice ;  and  his  courtiers  compared  the  studied 
orations  which  a  Pericles  or  a  Demosthenes  addressed 
to  the  populace  of  Athens  with  the  victorious  eloquence 
which  had  persuaded  an  armed  multitude  to  desert 
and  depose  the  object  of  their  partial  choice.  The 
approaching  contest  with  Ma-rnentius  was  of  a  more 
serious  and  bloody  kind.  The  tyrant  advanced  by 
rapid  marches  to  encounter  Constantius,  at  the  head 
of  a  numerous  army,  composed  of  Gauls  and  Spaniards, 
of  Franks  and  Saxons ;  of  those  provincials  who 
supplied  the  strength  of  the  legions,  and  of  those 
barbarians  who  were  dreaded  as  the  most  formidable 
enemies  of  the  republic.     The  fertile  plains  ^^  of  the 

*i  The  younger  Victor  assigns  to  his  exile  the  emphatical 
appellation  of  "  Voluptarium  otium."  Socrates  (1.  ii.  c.  28)  is 
the  voucher  for  the  correspondence  with  the  emperor,  which 
would  seem  to  prove  that  Vetranio  was,  indeed,  prope  ad 
stultitiam  simplicissimus. 

42  Busbequius  (p.  112)  traversed  the  Lower  Hungary  and 
Sclavonia  at  a  time  when  they  were  reduced  almost  to  a  desert 
by  the  reciprocal  hostilities  of  the  Turks  and  Christians.  Yet 
he  mentions  with  admiration  the  unconquerable  fertility  of  the 
soil ;  and  observes  that  the  height  of  the  grass  was  sufficient  to 
conceal  a  loaded  waggon  from  his  sight. 


270  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

Lower  Pannonia,  between  the  Drave,  the  Save^  and 
the  Danube,  presented  a  spacious  theatre ;  and  the 
operations  of  the  civil  war  were  protracted  during-  the 
summer  months  by  the  skill  or  timidity  of  the  com- 
batants. Constantius  had  declared  his  intention  of 
deciding  the  quarrel  in  the  fields  of  Cibalis,  a  name 
that  would  animate  his  troops  by  the  remembrance  of 
the  victory  which,  on  the  same  auspicious  ground,  had 
been  obtained  by  the  arms  of  his  father  Constantine. 
Yet,  by  the  impregnable  fortifications  with  which  the 
emperor  encompassed  his  camp,  he  appeared  to  decline, 
rather  than  to  invite,  a  general  engagement.  It  was 
the  object  of  Magnentius  to  tempt  or  to  compel  his 
adversary  to  relinquish  this  advantageous  position ; 
and  he  employed,  with  that  view,  the  various  marches, 
evolutions,  and  stratagems,  which  the  knowledge  of 
the  art  of  war  could  suggest  to  an  experienced  officer. 
He  carried  by  assault  the  important  town  of  Siscia ; 
made  an  attack  on  the  city  of  Sirmium,  which  lay  in 
the  rear  of  the  Imperial  camp  ;  attempted  to  force  a 
passage  over  the  Save  into  the  eastern  provinces  of 
Illyricum  ;  and  cut  in  pieces  a  numerous  detachment, 
which  he  had  allured  into  the  narrow  passes  of  Adarne. 
During  the  greater  part  of  the  summer,  the  tyrant  of 
Gaul  showed  himself  master  of  the  field.  The  troops 
of  Constantius  were  harassed  and  dispirited  ;  his 
reputation  declined  in  the  eye  of  the  world  ;  and  his 
pride  condescended  to  solicit  a  treaty  of  peace,  which 
would  have  resigned  to  the  assassin  of  Coustans  the 
sovereignty  of  the  provinces  beyond  the  Alps.  These 
offers  were  enforced  by  the  eloquence  of  Philip  the 
Imperial  ambassador  ;  and  the  council  as  well  as  the 
army  of  Magnentius  were  disposed  to  accept  them. 
But  the  haughty  usurper,  careless  of  tlie  remonstrances 
of  his  friends,  gave  orders  that  Philip  should  be  de- 
tained as  a  captive,  or  at  least  as  a  hostage  ;  while 
he  despatched  an  officer  to  reproach  Constantius  with 
the  weakness  of  his  reign,  and  to  insult  him  by  the 
promise  of  a  pardon,  if  he  would  instantly  abdicate 
the  purple.     '^  That  he  should  confide  in  the  justice  of 


35]  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  271 

his  cause  and  tlie  protection  of  an  avenging-  Deity/'  was 
tlie  only  answer  wliich  lionour  permitted  tlie^emperor 
to  return.  Rut  he  was  so  sensible  of  the  difficulties 
of  his  situation  that  he  no  longer  dared  to  retaliate  the 
indignity  which  had  been  offered  to  his  representative. 
TTie  negotiation  of  Philip  was  not^  however,  ineffectual, 
since  he  determined  Sylvan  us,  the  Frank,  a  general 
of  merit  and  reputation,  to  desert  with  a  considerable 
body  of  cavali-y,  a  few  days  before  the  battle  of  Mursa. 
The  cit}'  of  Mursa,  or  Essek,  celebrated  in  modern 
times  for  a  bridge  of  boats  five  miles  in  length  over 
the  river  Drave  and  the  adjacent  morasses, "^^  jj^g  heen 
always  considered  as  a  place  of  importance  in  the  wars 
of  Hungary.  Magnentius,  directing  his  march  towards 
Mursa,  set  fire  to  the  gates,  and,  by  a  sudden  assault, 
had  almost  scaled  the  wjiils  of  tiie  town.  The  vigilance 
of  the  garrison  extinguished  the  flames  ;  the  ap])roach 
of  Constantius  left  him  no  time  to  continue  the  opera- 
tions of  the  siege  ;  and  the  emperor  soon  removed  the 
only  obstacle  that  could  embarrass  his  motions,  by 
forcing  a  body  of  troops  which  had  taken  post  in  an 
adjoining  amphitheatre.  The  field  of  battle  round 
Mursa  was  a  naked  and  level  plain  ;  on  this  ground 
the  army  of  Constantius  formed,  with  the  Drave  on 
their  right  ;  while  their  left,  either  from  the  nature 
of  their  disposition  or  from  the  superiority  of  their 
cavalry,  extended  far  beyond  the  right'  flank  of 
Magnentius.  The  troops  on  both  sides  remained 
under  arms  in  anxious  expectation  during  the  greatest 
];art  of  the  morning ;  and  the  son  of  Constantine, 
after  animating  his  soldiers  by  an  eloquent  speech, 
retired  into  a  church  at  some  distance  from  the  field 
of  battle,  and  committed  to  his  generals  the  conduct 
of  this  decisive  day."*^    They  deserved  his  confidence  by 

*^  This  remarkable  bridge,  which  is  flanked  with  towers,  and 
supported  on  large  wooden  piles,  was  constructed,  A.D.  1566, 
by  Sultan  Soliman,  to  facilitate  the  march  of  his  armies  into 
Hungary. 

-"  The  emperor  passed  the  day  in  prayer  with  Valens,  the 
Arian  bishop  of  Mursa,  who  gained  his  confidence  by  announcing 


272  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

the  valour  and  military  skill  which  thev  exerted.  They 
wisely  be^au  the  action  upon  the  left ;  and,  advancing 
their  whole  wing-  of  cavalry  in  an  oblique  line,  they 
suddenly  wheeled  it  on  the  right  flank  of  the  enemy, 
which  was  unprepared  to  resist  the  impetuosity  of 
their  charge.  But  the  Romans  of  the  West  soon 
rallied,  by  the  habits  of  discipline  ;  and  the  Barbarians 
of  Germany  supported  the  renown  of  their  national 
bravery.  The  engagement  soon  became  general  ;  was 
maintained  with  various  and  singular  turns  of  fortune  ; 
and  scarcely  ended  with  the  darkness  of  the  night. 
The  signal  victory  which  Constantius  obtained  is 
attributed  to  the  arms  of  his  cavalry.  His  cuirassiers 
are  described  as  so  many  massy  statues  of  steel,  glitter- 
ing with  their  scaly  armour,  and  breaking  with  their 
ponderous  lances  the  firm  array  of  the  Gallic  legions. 
As  soon  as  the  legions  gave  way,  the  lighter  and  more 
active  squadrons  of  the  second  line  rode  sword  in 
hand  into  the  intervals,  and  completed  the  disorder. 
In  the  meanwhile,  the  huge  bodies  of  the  Germans 
were  exposed  almost  naked  to  the  dexterity  of  the 
oriental  archers  ;  and  whole  troops  of  those  Barbarians 
were  urged  by  anguish  and  despair  to  precipitate  them- 
selves into  the  broad  and  rapid  stream  of  the  Drave. 
The  number  of  the  slain  was  computed  at  fifty-four 
thousand  men,  and  the  slaughter  of  the  conquerors 
w;is  more  considerable  than  that  of  the  vanquished  ;  ^^ 
a   circumstance    which    proves   the   obstinacy   of    the 

the  success  of  the  battle.  M.  de  Tillemont  (Hist,  des  Em- 
pereurs,  torn.  iv.  p.  mo)  very  properly  remarks  the  silence  of 
Julian  with  regard  to  the  personal  prowess  of  Constantius  in  the 
battle  of  Mursa.  The  silence  of  flattery  is  sometimes  equal  to 
the  most  positive  and  authentic  evidence. 

45  According  to  Zonaras,  Constantius,  out  of  80,000  men,  lost 
30,000,  and  Magnentius  lost  24,000  out  of  36,000.  The  other 
articles  of  this  account  seem  probable  and  authentic,  but  the 
numbers  of  the  tyrant's  army  must  have  been  mistaken,  either 
by  the  author  or  his  transcribers.  Magnentius  had  collected 
the  whole  force  of  the  West,  Romans  and  Barbarians,  into  one 
formidable  body,  which  cannot  fairly  be  estimated  at  less  than 
loo.ooomen. 


352  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  273 

contest,  and  justifies  the  observation  of  an  ancient 
writer  that  the  forces  of  the  empire  were  consumed 
in  the  fatal  battle  of  Mursa^  by  the  loss  of  a  veteran 
army,  sufficient  to  defend  the  frontiers  or  to  add  new 
triumphs  to  the  glory  of  Rome.  Notwithstanding  the 
invectives  of  a  servile  orator,  there  is  not  the  least 
reason  to  believe  that  the  tyrant  deserted  his  own 
standard  in  the  beginning  of  the  engagement.  He 
seems  to  have  displayed  the  virtues  of  a  general  and 
of  a  soldier  till  the  day  was  irrecoverably  lost^  and  his 
camp  in  the  possession  of  the  enemy.  Magiientius 
then  consulted  his  safety,  and,  throwing  away  the 
Imperial  ornaments,  escaped  with  some  difficulty  from 
the  pursuit  of  the  light  horse,  who  incessantly  followed 
his  rapid  flight  from  the  banks  of  the  Drave  to  the  foot 
of  the  Julian  Alps. 

The  approach  of  winter  supplied  the  indolence  of 
Constantius  with  specious  reasons  for  deferring  the 
prosecution  of  the  war  till  the  ensuing  spring.  Mag- 
nentius  had  fixed  his  residence  in  the  city  of  Aquileia. 
and  showed  a  seeming  resolution  to  dispute  the  passage 
of  the  mountains  and  morasses  which  fortified  the  con- 
fines of  the  Venetian  province.  The  surprisal  of  a 
castle  in  the  Alps  by  the  secret  march  of  the  Imperi- 
alists could  scarcely  have  determined  him  to  relinquish 
the  possession  of  Italy,  if  the  inclinations  of  the  people 
had  supported  the  cause  of  their  tyrant.  But  the 
memory  of  the  cruelties  exercised  by  his  ministers, 
after  the  unsuccessful  revolt  of  Nepotian,  had  left  a 
deep  impression  of  horror  and  resentment  on  the 
minds  of  the  Romans.  That  rash  youth,  the  son  of 
the  princess  Eutropia,  and  the  nephew  of  Constantino, 
had  seen  with  indignation  the  sceptre  of  the  West 
usurped  by  a  perfidious  barbarian.  Arming  a  desperate 
troop  of  slaves  and  gladiators,  he  overpowered  the 
feeble  guard  of  the  domestic  tranquillity  of  Rome, 
received  the  homage  of  the  senate,  and,  assuming  the 
title  of  Augustus,  precariously  reigned  during  a  tumult 
of  twenty-eight  days.  The  march  of  some  regular 
forces  put  an  end  to  his  ambitious  hopes  :  the  rebellion 


274  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

was  extinguished  in  the  blood  of  Nepotian,  of  his 
mother  Eutropia,  and  of  his  adherents  ;  and  the  pro- 
scription was  extended  to  all  wlio  had  contracted  a 
fatal  alliance  with  the  name  and  family  of  Constantine. 
But_,  as  soon  as  Constantius^  after  the  battle  of  Mursa, 
became  master  of  the  sea-coast  of  Dalmatia^  a  band  of 
noble  exiles,  who  had  ventured  to  equip  a  fleet  in 
some  harbour  of  the  Hadriatic,  sought  protection  and 
revenge  in  his  victorious  camp.  By  tlieir  secret  in- 
telligence with  their  countrymen,  Rome  and  the  Italian 
cities  were  persuaded  to  display  the  banners  of  Con- 
stantius  on  their  walls.  The  grateful  veterans,  enriched 
by  the  liberality  of  the  father,  signalised  their  gratitude 
and  loyalty  to  the  son.  The  cavalry,  the  legions,  and 
the  auxiliaries  of  Italy  renewed  their  oath  of  allegiance 
to  Constantius ;  and  the  usurper,  alarmed  by  the 
general  desertion,  was  compelled,  with  the  remains  of 
his  faithful  troops,  to  retire  beyond  the  Alps  into  the 
provinces  of  Gaul.  The  detachments,  however,  which 
were  ordered  either  to  press  or  to  intercept  the  flight 
of  Magnentius,  conducted  themselves  with  the  usual 
imprudence  of  success  ;  and  allowed  him,  in  the  plains 
of  Pavia,  an  opportunity  of  turning  on  his  pursuers 
and  of  gratifying  his  despair  bytlie  carnage  of  a  useless 
victory. 

The  pride  of  Magnentius  was  reduced,  by  repeated 
misfortunes,  to  sue,  and  to  sue  in  vain,  for  peace.  He 
first  despatched  a  senator,  in  whose  abilities  he  con- 
fided, and  afterwards  several  bishops,  whose  holy  char- 
acter might  obtain  a  more  fav.jurable  audience,  with 
the  offer  of  resigning  the  purple,  and  the  promise  of 
devoting  the  remainder  of  his  life  to  the  service  of  the 
emperor.  But  Constantius,  though  he  granted  fair 
terms  of  pardon  and  reconciliation  to  all  wlio  abandoned 
the  standard  of  rebellion,  avowed  his  inflexible  resolu- 
tion to  inflict  a  just  punishment  on  the  crimes  of  an 
assassin,  whom  he  prepared  to  overwhelm  on  every 
side  by  the  effort  of  his  victorious  arms.  An  Imperial 
fleet  acquired  the  easy  possession  of  Africa  and  Spain, 
confirmed  the  wavering  faith  of  the  Moorish  nations, 


353  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  276 

and  landed  a  considerable  force,  which  passed  the 
Pj^renees,  and  advanced  towards  Lyons,  the  last  and 
fatal  station  of  Mag-nentius.  The  temper  of  the  tyrant, 
which  was  never  inclined  to  clemency,  was  urged  by 
distress  to  exercise  every  act  of  oppression  which  could 
extort  an  immediate  supply  from  the  cities  of  Gaul.*^ 
Their  patience  was  at  lengih  exhausted  ;  and  Treves, 
the  seat  of  Praetorian  government,  gave  the  signal  of 
revolt  by  shutting  her  gates  against  Decentius,  who 
had  been  raised  by  his  brother  to  the  rank  either  of 
('aesar  or  of  Augustus.*'^  From  Treves,  Decentius  was 
obliged  to  retire  to  Sens,  where  he  was  soon  surrounded 
by  an  army  of  Germans,  whom  the  pernicious  arts  of 
Constantius  had  introduced  into  the  civil  dissensions 
of  Rome.  In  the  meantime  the  Imperial  troops  forced 
the  passages  of  the  Cottian  Alps,  and  in  the  bloody 
combat  of  Mount  Seleucus  irrevocably  fixed  the  title 
of  Rebels  on  the  party  of  Magnentius.  He  was  unable 
to  bring  dnother  army  into  the  field  ;  the  fidelity  of 
his  guards  was  corrupted:  and,  when  he  appeared  in 
public  to  animate  them  by  his  exhortations,  he  was 
saluted  with  an  unanimous  shout  of  "  Long  live  the 
emperor  Constantius  ! "  The  tyrant,  who  perceived 
that  they  were  preparing  to  deserve  pardon  and  rewards 
by  the  sacrifice  of  the  most  obnoxious  criminal,  pre- 
vented their  design  by  falling  on  his  sword  ;  a  death 
more  easy  and  more  honourable  than  he  could  hope  to 
obtain  from  the  hands  of  an  enemy,  whose  revenge 
would  have  been  coloured  with  the  specious  pretence 
of  justice  and  fraternal  piety.     The  example  of  suicide 

'*"  Julian,  who  (Oral,  i,  p.  40)  inveighs  against  the  cruel  effects 
of  the  tyrant's  despair,  mentions  (Orat.  i.  p.  34)  the  oppressive 
edicts  which  were  dictated  by  his  necessities,  or  by  his  avarice. 
His  subjects  were  compelled  to  purchase  the  Imperial  demesnes  ; 
a  doubtful  and  dangerous  species  of  property,  which,  in  case 
of  a  revolution,  might  be  imputed  to  them  as  a  treasonable 
usurpation. 

47  The  medals  of  Magnentius  celebrate  the  victories  of  the  two 
August!,  and  of  the  Caesar.  The  Cassar  was  another  brother, 
named  Desiderius. 


276  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

was  imitated  by  Decentius,  who  strangled  himself  ou 
the  uews  of  his  brother's  death.  The  author  of  the 
conspiracy,  Marcellinus,  had  long  since  disappeareil  in 
the  battle  of  Mursa/^  and  the  public  tranquillity  wa^ 
confirmed  by  the  execution  of  the  surviving  leaders  of 
a  guilty  and  unsuccessful  faction.  A  severe  inquisition 
was  extended  over  all  who,  either  from  choice  or  from 
compulsion,  had  been  involved  in  the  cause  of  rebellion. 
Paul,  surnamed  Catena,  from  his  superior  skill  in  the 
judicial  exercise  of  tyranny,  was  sent  to  explore  the 
latent  remains  of  the  conspiracy  in  the  remote  province 
of  Britain.  The  honest  indignation  expressed  by 
Martin,  vice-prajfect  of  the  island,  was  interpreted  as 
an  evidence  of  his  own  guilt ;  and  the  governor  was 
urged  to  the  necessity  of  turning  against  his  breast 
the  sword  with  which  he  had  been  provoked  to  wound 
the  Imperial  minister.  The  most  innocent  subjects  of 
the  VV^est  were  exposed  to  exile  and  confiscation,  to 
death  and  torture  ;  and,  as  the  timid  are  always  cruel, 
the  mind  of  Constantius  was  inaccessible  to  mercy. 

**>  Julian  (Orat.  i.  pp.  58,  59)  seems  at  a  loss  to  determine 
whether  he  inflicted  on  himself  the  punishment  of  his  crimes, 
whether  he  was  drowned  in  the  Drave,  or  whether  he  was  carried 
by  the  aveng'ng  demons  from  the  field  of  battle  to  his  destined 
place  of  eternal  tortures. 


SfiS  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  277 


CHAPTER  XIX 

CONSTANTIUS    SOLK    EMPEROR ELEVATION    AND    DEATH    OF 

GALI.US DANGER    AND    ELEVATION    OF    JULIAN SA  U- 

MATIAN    AND    PERSIAN    WARS — VICTORIES    OF    JULIAN 
IN    GAUL 

The  divided  provinces  of  the  empire  were  again  united 
by  the  victory  of  Constantius ;  but,  as  that  feeble 
prince  was  destitute  of  personal  merit,  either  in  peace 
or  war ;  as  he  feared  his  generals  and  distrusted  his 
ministers ;  the  triumph  of  his  arms  served  only  to 
establish  the  reign  of  the  eunuch.^  over  the  Roman 
world.  Those  unhappy  beings,  the  ancient  production 
of  oriental  jealousy  and  despotism,  were  introduced 
into  Greece  and  Rome  by  the  contagion  of  Asiatic 
luxury.  Tlieir  progress  was  rapid  ;  and  the  eunuchs, 
who,  in  the  time  of  Augustus,  had  been  abhorred,  as 
the  monstrous  retinue  of  an  Egyptian  queen,  were 
gradually  admitted  into  the  families  of  matrons,  of 
senators,  and  of  the  emperors  themselves.  Restrained 
by  the  severe  edicts  of  Domitian  and  Nerva,  cherished 
by  the  pride  of  Diocletian,  reduced  to  an  humble 
station  by  the  prudence  of  Constantine,^  they  multi- 
plied in  the  palaces  of  his  degenerate  sons,  and  in- 
sensibly acquired  the  knowledge,  and  at  length  the 
direction,  of  the  secret  councils  of  Constantius.  The 
aversion  and  contempt  which  mankind  has  so  uniformly 
entertained  for  that  imperfect  species  appears  to  have 
degraded  their  character,  and  to  have  rendered  them 
almost  as  incapable  as  they  were   supposed  to  be  of 

^  There  is  a  passage  in  the  Augustan  History,  p.  137,  in  which 
Lampridius,  whilst  he  praises  Alexander  Severus  and  Constantine 
for  restraining  the  t>Tanny  of  the  eunuchs,  deplores  the  mischiefs 
which  they  occasioned  in  other  reigns. 


278  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

conceiving  any  generous  sentiment  or  of  performing 
any  worthy  action. ^  But  the  eunuchs  were  skilled  ui 
the  arts  of  flattery  and  intrigue  ;  and  they  alternately 
governed  the  mind  of  Constantius  by  his  fears,  his 
indolence,  and  his  vanity.^  Whilst  he  viewed  in  a 
deceitful  mirror  the  fair  appearance  of  public  pros- 
perity, he  supinely  permitted  them  to  intercept  the 
complaints  of  the  injured  provinces,  to  accumulate 
immense  treasures  by  the  sale  of  justice  and  of  honours ; 
to  disgrace  the  most  important  dignities  by  the  pro- 
motion of  those  who  had  purchased  at  their  hands  the 
powers  of  oppression,^  and  to  gratify  their  reseutrnent 
against  the  few  independent  spirits  who  arrogantly 
refused  to  solicit  the  protection  of  slaves.  Of  tliese 
slaves  the  most  distinguished  was  the  chamberlain 
Eusebius,  who  ruled  the  monarch  and  the  palace  with 
such  absolute  sway  that  Constantius,  according  to  the 
sarcasm  of  an  impartial  historian,  possessed  some  credit 
with  his  haughty  favourite.  By  his  artful  suggestions, 
the  emperor  was  persuaded  to  subscribe  the  condemna- 
tion of  the  unfortunate  Gallus,  and  to  add  a  new  crime 

2  Xenophon  (C\ropasdia,  1.  viii.  p.  540)  has  stated  the 
specious  reasons  which  engaged  Cyrus  to  entrust  his  person 
to  the  guard  of  eunuchs.  He  had  observed  in  animals  that, 
although  the  practice  of  castration  might  tame  their  ungovernable 
fierceness,  it  did  not  diminish  their  strength  or  spirit ;  and  he 
persuaded  himself  that  those  who  were  separated  from  the  rest 
of  human  kind  would  be  more  firmly  attached  to  the  person  of 
their  benefactor.  But  a  long  experience  has  contradicted  the 
judgment  of  Cyrus.  Some  particular  instances  may  occur  of 
eunuchs  distinguished  by  their  fidelity,  their  valour,  and  their 
abilities ;  but,  if  we  examine  the  general  history  of  Persia, 
India,  and  China,  we  shall  find  that  the  power  of  the  eunuchs 
has  uniformly  marked  the  decline  and  fall  of  every  dynasty. 

3  The  whole  tenor  of  his  impartial  history  serves  to  justify 
the  invectives  of  Mamertinus,  of  Libanius,  and  of  Julian  himself, 
who  have  insulted  the  vices  of  the  court  of  Constantius. 

*  Aurelius  Victor  censures  the  negligence  of  his  sovereign  in 
choosing  the  governors  of  the  provinces  and  the  generals  of  the 
army,  and  concludes  his  history  with  a  very  bold  observation, 
as  it  is  much  more  dangerous  under  a  feeble  reign  to  attack  the 
ministers  than  the  master  himself. 


344  OF   THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE  279 

to  the  long'  list  of  unnatural  murders  which  pollute 
the  honour  of  the  house  of  Constantiue. 

When  the  two  nephews  of  Constantine,  Gallus  and 
Julian,  were  saved  from  the  fury  of  the  soldiers,  the 
former  was  about  twelve,  and  the  hitter  about  six,  years 
of  age  ;  and,  as  the  eldest  was  thought  to  be  of  a  sickly 
constitution,  they  obtained  with  the  less  difficulty  a 
precarious  and  dependent  life  from  the  atfected  pity  of 
Constantius,  who  was  sensible  that  the  execution  of 
these  helpless  orphans  would  have  been  esteemed  by 
all  mankind  an  act  of  the  most  deliberate  cruelty.^ 
Different  cities  of  Ionia  and  Bithynia  were  assigned  for 
the  places  of  their  exile  and  education  ;  but,  as  soon  as 
their  growing  years  excited  the  jealousy  of  the  emperor, 
he  judged  it  more  prudent  to  secure  those  unhappy 
youths  in  the  strong  castle  of  Macellum,  near  Caesarea. 
The  treatment  which  they  experienced  during  a  six 
years'  confinement  was  partly  such  as  they  could  hope 
from  a  careful  guardian,  and  partly  such  as  they  might 
dread  from  a  suspicious  tyrant.^  Their  prison  was  an 
ancient  palace,  the  residence  of  the  kings  of  Cappa- 
docia  ;  the  situation  was  pleasant,  the  buildings  stately, 
the  inclosure  spacious.  They  pursued  their  studies, 
and  practised  their  exercises,  under  the  tuition  of  the 
most  skilful  masters  ;  and  the  numerous  household, 
appointed  to  attend,  or  rather  to  guard,  the  nepliews 
of  Constantine,  was  not  unworthy  of  the  dignity  of 
their  birth.  But  they  could  not  disguise  to  themselves 
that  they  were  deprived  of  fortune,  of  freedom,  and  of 
safety  ;  secluded  from  the  society  of  all   whom    they 

'  Gregory  Nazianzen  (Orat.  iii.  p.  90)  reproaches  the  apostate 
with  his  ingratitude  towards  Mark,  bishop  of  Arethusa,  who  had 
contributed  to  save  his  life ;  and  we  learn,  though  from  a  less 
respectable  authority,  that  Julian  v/as  concealed  in  the  sanctuary 
of  a  church. 

6  The  most  authentic  account  of  the  education  and  adventures 
of  Julian  is  contained  in  the  epistle  or  manifesto  which  he  him- 
self addressed  to  the  senate  and  people  of  Athens.  Libanius 
(Orat.  Parentalis),  on  the  side  of  the  Pagans,  and  Socrates  (L  iii. 
c.  i),  on  that  of  the  Christians,  have  preserved  several  interest- 
ing circumstances. 


280  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  ad 

could  trust  or  esteem  ;  and  condemned  to  pass  their 
melancholy  hours  in  the  company  of  slaves,  devoted  to 
the  commands  of  a  tyrant,  who  had  already  injured 
them  beyond  the  hope  of  reconciliation.  At  length, 
however,  the  emergencies  of  the  state  compelled  the 
emperor,  or  rather  his  eunuchs,  to  invest  Gallus,  in 
the  twenty-fifth  year  of  his  age,  with  the  title  of  Caesar, 
and  to  cement  this  political  connection  by  his  marriage 
with  the  princess  Constantina.  After  a  formal  inter- 
view, in  which  the  two  princes  mutually  engaged  their 
faith  never  to  undertake  anything  to  the  prejudice  of 
each  other,  they  repaired  without  delay  to  their  re- 
spective stations.  Constantius  continued  his  march 
towards  the  West,  and  Gallus  fixed  his  residence  at 
Antioch,  from  whence,  with  a  delegated  authority,  he 
administered  the  five  great  dioceses  of  the  eastern 
prfefecture.*^  In  this  fortunate  change,  the  new  Cjvsar 
was  not  unmindful  of  his  brother  Julian,  who  obtained 
the  honours  of  his  rank,  the  appearances  of  liberty, 
and  the  restitution  of  an  ample  patrimony.^ 

The  writers  the  most  indulgent  to  the  memory  of 
Gallus,  and  even  Julian  himself,  though  he  wished  to 
cast  a  veil  over  the  frailties  of  his  brother,  are  obliged 
to  confess  that  the  Caesar  was  incapable  of  reigning. 
Transported  from  a  prison  to  a  throne,  he  possessed 
neither  genius  nor  application,  nor  docility  to  com- 
pensate for  the  want  of  knowledge  and  experience.  A 
temper  naturally  morose  and  violent,  instead  of  being 
corrected,  was  soured,  by  solitude  and  adversity ;  the 

"^  For  the  promotion  of  Gallus,  see  Idatius,  Zosimus,  and  the 
two  Victors.  According  to  Philostorgius  (1.  iv.  c.  i),  Theophilus, 
an  Arian  bishop,  was  the  witness,  and,  as  it  were,  thegaurantee, 
of  this  solemn  engagement.  He  supported  that  character  with 
generous  firmness  ;  but  M.  de  Tillemont  (Hist,  des  Empereurs, 
tom.  iv.  p.  1 120)  thinks  it  very  improbable  that  an  heretic 
should  have  possessed  such  virtue. 

8  Julian  was  at  first  permitted  to  pursue  his  studies  at  Con- 
stantinople, but  the  reputation  which  he  acquired  soon  excited 
the  jealousy  of  Constantius  ;  and  the  young  prince  was  advised 
to  withdraw  himself  to  the  less  conspicuous  scenes  of  Bithynia 
and  Ionia. 


351-354       OF  THE    ROMAN    EMPIRE  281 

remembrance  of  what  he  had  endured  disposed  him 
to  retaliation  rather  than  to  sympatliy  ;  and  the  nn- 
governed  sallies  of  his  rage  were  often  fatal  to  those 
who  approached  his  person  or  were  subject  to  his 
power.^  Constantina,  his  wife,  is  described,  not  as  a 
woman,  but  as  one  of  the  infernal  furies  tormented 
with  an  insatiate  thirst  of  human  blood.  ^*^  Instead  of 
employing  her  influence  to  insinuate  the  mild  counsels 
of  prudence  and  humanity,  she  exasperated  the  fierce 
passions  of  her  husband ;  and,  as  she  retained  the 
vanity,  though  she  had  renounced  the  gentleness,  of 
her  sex,  a  pearl  necklace  was  esteemed  an  equivalent 
price  for  the  murder  of  an  innocent  and  virtuous 
nobleman.  ^^  The  cruelty  of  Gallus  was  sometimes 
displayed  in  the  undissembled  violence  of  popular  or 
military  executions  ;  and  was  sometimes  disguised  by 
the  abuse  of  law,  and  the  forms  of  judicial  proceedings. 
The  private  houses  of  Antioch  and  the  places  of  public 
resort  were  besieged  by  spies  and  informers  ;  and  the 
Caesar  himself,  concealed  in  a  plebeian  habit,  very 
frequently  condescended  to  assume  that  odious  char- 
acter. Every  apartment  of  the  palace  was  adorned 
with  the  instruments  of  death  and  torture,  and  a 
ifeneral  consternation  was  diffused  through  the  capital 
of  Syria.  The  Prince  of  the  East,  as  if  he  had  been 
conscious  how  much  he  had  to  fear,  and  how  little  he 
deserved  to  reign,  selected  for  the  objects  of  his  re- 
sentment the  provincials,  accused  of  some  imaginary 
treason,  and  his  own  courtiers,  whom  with  more  reason 

8  I  shall  copy  the  words  of  Eutropius,  who  wrote  his  abridg- 
ment about  fifteen  years  after  the  death  of  Gallus,  when  there 
was  no  longer  any  motive  either  to  flatter  or  to  depreciate  his 
character.  "  Multis  incivilibus  gestis  Gallus  Caesar  .  .  .  vir 
natura  ferox  et  ad  tyrannidem  pronior,  si  suo  jure  imperaie 
licuisset." 

^0  The  sincerity  of  Ammianus  would  not  suffer  him  to  mis- 
represent facts  or  characters,  but  his  love  of  ambitious  orna- 
ments frequently  betrayed  him  into  an  unnatural  vehemence 
of  expression. 

11  His  name  was  Clematius  of  Alexandria,  and  his  only  crime 
was  a  refusal  to  gratify  the  desires  of  his  mother-in-law  ;  who 
solicited  his  death,  because  she  had  been  disappointed  of  his  love. 


282  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

he  suspected  of  incensingj  by  their  secret  correspon- 
dence, the  timid  and  suspicious  mind  of  Constantius. 
But  he  forg-ot  that  he  was  depriving  himself  of  his 
only  support,  the  affection  of  the  people  ;  whilst  he 
furnished  the  malice  of  his  enemies  with  the  arms  of 
truth,  and  afforded  the  emperor  the  fairest  pretence  of 
exacting  the  forfeit  of  his  purple,  and  of  his  life. 

As  long  as  the  civil  war  suspended  the  fate  of  the 
Roman  world,  Constantius  dissembled  his  knowledge 
of  the  weak  and  cruel  administration  to  which  his 
choice  had  subjected  the  East ;  and  the  discovery  of 
some  assassins,  secretly  despatched  to  Antioch  by  the 
tyrant  of  Gaul,  was  employed  to  convince  the  public, 
tiiat  the  emperor  and  the  Cjesar  were  united  by  the 
same  interest  and  pursued  by  the  same  enemies. ^^ 
But,  when  the  victory  was  decided  in  favour  of  Con- 
stantius, his  dependent  colleague  became  less  useful 
and  less  formidable.  Every  circumstance  of  his  conduct 
was  severely  and  suspiciously  examined,  and  it  was 
privately  resolved  either  to  deprive  Gallus  of  the 
purple  or  at  least  to  remove  him  from  the  indolent 
luxury  of  Asia  to  the  hardships  and  dangers  of  a 
German  war.  The  death  of  Theophilus,  consular  of 
the  province  of  Syria,  who  in  a  time  of  scarcity  had 
been  massacred  by  the  people  of  Antioch  with  the 
connivance,  and  almost  at  the  instigation,  of  Gallus, 
was  justly  resented,  not  only  as  an  act  of  wanton 
cruelty,  but  as  a  dangerous  insult  on  the  supreme 
majesty  of  Constantius.  Two  ministers  of  illustrious 
rank,  Domitian,  the  oriental  praefect,  and  Montius, 
qunpstor  of  the  palace,  were  empowered  by  a  special 
commission  to  visit  and  reform  the  state  of  the  East. 
They  were  instructed  to  behave  towards  Gallus  with 
moderation  and  respect,  and,  by  the  gentlest  arts  of 
persuasion,  to  engage  him  to  comply  with  the  invita- 
tion of  his  brother  and  colleague.  The  rashness  of 
the  praifect  disappointed  these  prudent  measures,  and 

12  The  assassins  had  seduced  a  great  number  of  legionaries  ; 
but  their  designs  were  discovered  and  revealed  by  an  old  woman 
in  whose  cottage  they  lodged. 


354  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  283 

hastened  his  own  ruin  as  well  ag  that  of  his  enemy. 
(>n  his  arrival  at  Antioch,  Domitian  passed  disdainfully 
before  the  ^ates  of  the  palace,  and,  alleg-ing  a  slight 
pretence  of  indisposition,  continued  several  days  in 
sullen  retirement  to  prepare  an  inflammatory  memo- 
rial, which  he  transmitted  to  the  Imperial  court. 
Yielding  at  length  to  the  pressing"  solicitations  of 
Gallus,  the  praefect  condescended  to  take  his  seat  in 
council  ;  but  his  first  step  was  to  signify  a  concise  and 
haughty  mandate,  importing  that  the  Caesar  should 
immediately  repair  to  Italy,  and  threatening  that  he 
himself  would  punish  his  delay  or  hesitation  by  sus- 
pending the  usual  allowance  of  his  household.  The 
nephew  and  daughter  of  Constantine,  who  could  ill 
brook  the  insolence  of  a  su])ject,  expressed  their  re- 
sentment by  instantly  delivering  Domitian  to  the 
custody  of  a  guard.  Tlie  quarrel  still  admitted  of 
some  terms  of  accommodation.  They  were  rendered 
impracticable  by  the  imprudent  behaviour  of  Montius, 
a  statesman  whose  art  and  experience  were  frequently 
betraved  by  the  levity  of  his  disposition.^^  The  quaestor 
reproached  Gallus  in  haughty  language  that  a  prince 
who  was  scarcely  authorised  to  remove  a  municipal 
magistrate  should  presum.e  to  imprison  a  Praetorian 
praefect ;  convoked  a  meeting  of  the  civil  and  military 
officers  ;  and  required  them,  in  the  name  of  their 
sovereign,  to  defend  the  person  and  dignity  of  his 
representatives.  By  this  rash  declaration  of  war,  the 
impatient  temper  of  Gallus  was  provoked  to  embrace 
the  most  despei-ate  counsels.  He  ordered  his  guards 
to  stand  to  their  arms,  assembled  the  populace 
of  Antioch,  and  recommended  to  their  zeal  the  care 
of  his    safety  and  revenge.      His  commands  were  too 

^'  In  the  present  text  of  Ammianus,  we  read,  Asper  quidem 
sed  ad  lenitatem  propensior ;  which  forms  a  sentence  of  con- 
tradictory nonsense.  With  the  aid  of  an  old  manuscript 
Valesius  has  rectified  the  first  of  these  corruptions,  and  we 
perceive  a  ray  of  light  in  the  substitution  of  the  word  wafer. 
If  we  venture  to  change  lenitatem  into  Ier>itctem,  this  alteration 
of  a  single  letter  wfll  render  the  whole  passage  clear  and 
consistent. 


284  THE    DECLINE    AND   FALL  a.d. 

fatally  obeyed.  Tliey  rudely  seized  the  praefect  and 
the  quaestor^  and,  tying  their  legs  together  with  ropes, 
they  dragged  them  through  the  streets  of  the  city, 
inflicted  a  thousand  insults  and  a  thousand  wounds  on 
these  unhappy  victims,  and  at  last  precipitated  their 
mangled  and  lifeless  bodies  into  the  stream  of  the 
Orontes.^* 

After  such  a  deed,  whatever  might  have  been  the 
designs  of  Gallus,  it  was  only  in  a  Held  of  battle  that 
he  could  assert  his  innocence  with  any  hope  of  success. 
But  the  mind  of  that  prince  was  formed  of  an  equal 
mixture  of  violence  and  weakness.  Instead  of  assum- 
ing the  title  of  Augustus,  instead  of  employing  in  his 
defence  the  troops  and  treasures  of  the  East,  he 
suffered  himself  to  be  deceived  by  the  affected  tran- 
quillity of  Constantius,  who,  leaving  him  the  vain 
pageantry  of  a  court,  imperceptibly  recalled  the 
veteran  legions  from  the  provinces  of  Asia.  But,  as 
it  still  appeared  dangerous  to  arrest  Gallus  in  his 
capital,  the  slow  and  safer  arts  of  dissimulation  were 
practised  with  success.  The  frequent  and  pressing 
epistles  of  Constantius  were  filled  with  professions  of 
confidence  and  friendship  ;  exhorting  the  Caesar  to 
discharge  tlie  duties  of  his  high  station,  to  relieve  his 
colleague  from  a  part  of  the  public  cares,  and  to  assist 
the  \Vest  by  his  presence,  his  counsels  and  his  arms. 
After  so  many  reciprocal  injuries,  Gallus  had  reason 
to  fear  and  to  distrust.  But  he  had  neglected  the 
opportunities  of  flight  and  of  resistance ;  he  was 
seduced  by  the  flattering  assurances  of  the  tribune 
Scudilo,  who,  under  the  semblance  of  a  rough  soldier, 
disguised  the  most  artful  insinuation  ;  and  he  de- 
pended on  the  credit  of  his  wife  Constantina,  till  the 
unseasonable    death    of  that    princess    completed    the 

14  Instead  of  being  obliged  to  collect  scattered  and  imperfect 
hints  from  various  sources,  we  now  enter  into  the  full  stream  of 
the  history  of  Ammianus,  and  need  only  refer  to  the  seventh 
and  ninth  chapters  of  his  fourteenth  book.  Philostorgius,  how- 
ever (1.  iii.  c.  28),  though  partial  to  Gallus,  should  not  be 
eptirely  overlooked. 


354  OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  286 

ruin  in  wliich  he  had  been  involved  by  her  impetuous 
passions. ^^ 

After  a  long  delay,  the  reluctant  Ctesar  set  fonvards 
on  his  journey  to  the  Imperial  court.  From  Aiitioch 
to  Hadrianople,  he  traversed  the  wide  extent  of  his 
dominions  with  a  numerous  and  stately  train  ;  and^ 
as  he  laboured  to  conceal  his  apprehensions  from  tlie 
world,  and  perhaps  from  himself,  he  entertained  the 
people  of  Constantino})le  with  an  exhibition  of  tlie 
games  of  the  circus.  The  progress  of  the  journey 
mioflit,  however,  have  warned  him  of  the  impending 
danger.  In  all  the  principal  cities  he  was  met  by 
ministers  of  confidence,  commissioned  to  seize  the 
offices  of  government,  to  observe  his  motions,  and  to 
prevent  the  hasty  sallies  of  his  despair.  The  persons 
despatched  to  secure  the  provinces  which  he  left 
behind  passed  him  with  cold  salutations  or  affected 
disdain  ;  and  the  troops,  whose  station  lay  along  the 
public  road,  were  studiously  removed  on  his  approach, 
lest  they  might  be  tempted  to  offer  their  swords  for 
the  service  of  a  civil  war.^**  After  Gallus  had  been 
permitted  to  repose  himself  a  few  days  at  Hadrianople 
he  received  a  mandate,  expressed  in  the  most  haughty 
and  absolute  style,  that  his  splendid  retinue  sliould 
halt  in  that  city,  while  the  Caesar  himself,  with  only 
ten  post-carriages,  should  hasten  to  the  Imperial 
residence  at  Milan.  In  this  rapid  journey,  the  pro- 
found res])ect  which  was  due  to  the  brother  and 
colleague  of  Constantius  was  insensibly  changed  into 
rude  familiarity  ;  and  Gallus,  who  discovered  in  tlie 
countenances    of    the    attendants    that    they    already 

IS  She  had  preceded  her  huiband  ;  but  died  of  a  fever 
on  the  road,  at  a  httle  place  in  Bithynia,  called  Coenum 
Gallicanum. 

''*^  The  Thebstan  legions,  which  were  then  quartered  at 
Hadrianople,  sent  a  deputation  to  Gallus,  with  a  tender  of  their 
services.  The  Notitia  (s.  6,  20,  38,  edit.  Labb. )  mentions 
three  several  legions  which  bore  the  name  of  Thebaan.  The 
zeal  of  M.  de  \'oltaire,  to  destroy  a  despicable  though  cele- 
brated legend,  has  tempted  him  on  the  slightest  grounds  to 
deny  the  existence  of  a  Thebaean  legion  in  the  Roman  amies. 


286  THE    DECLINE    AND   FALL  a.d. 

considered  themselves  as  his  guards,  and  might  soon 
be  employed  as  his  executioners^  began  to  accuse  his 
fatal  rashness,  and  to  recollect  with  terror  and  re- 
morse the  conduct  by  which  he  had  provoked  his  fate. 
The  dissimulation  whicli  had  hitherto  been  preserved, 
was  laid  aside  at  Poetovio  in  Pannonia.  He  was 
conducted  to  a  palace  in  the  suburbs,  where  the 
general  Barbatio,  with  a  select  band  of  soldiers,  who 
could  neither  be  moved  by  pity  nor  corrupted  by 
rewards,  expected  the  arrival  of  his  illustrious  victim. 
In  the  close  of  the  evening  he  was  arrested,  ignomini- 
ously  stripped  of  the  ensigns  of  Caesar,  and  hurried 
away  to  Pola  in  Istria,  a  sequestered  prison  which  had 
been  so  recently  polluted  with  royal  blood.  The 
horror  vvhich  he  felt  was  soon  increased  by  the  ap- 
pearance of  his  implacable  enemy  the  eunuch  Eusebius, 
who,  with  the  assistance  of  a  notary  and  a  tribui.?, 
proceeded  to  interrogate  liim  concerning  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  East.  The  Caesar  sunk  under  the  weii^ht 
of  shame  and  guilt,  confessed  all  the  criminal  actions, 
and  all  the  treasonable  designs,  with  which  he  was 
charged  ;  and,  by  imputing  tliem  to  the  advice  of  his 
wife,  exasperated  the  indignation  of  Constantius,  who 
reviewed  with  partial  prejudice  the  minutes  of  the 
examination.  The  emperor  was  easily  convinced  that 
his  own  safety  was  incompatible  with  the  life  of  his 
cousin  :  the  sentence  of  death  was  signed,  despatched, 
and  executed  ;  and  the  nephew  of  Constantine,  with 
his  hands  tied  behind  his  back,  was  beheaded  in  prison 
iike  the  vilest  malefactor. ^^  Those  who  are  inclined 
to  palliate  the  cruelties  of  Constantius  assert  that  lie 
soon  relented  and  endeavoured  to  recall  the  bloody 
mandate  :  but  that  the  second  messenger  entrusted 
with  the  reprieve  was  detained  by  the  eunuchs,  who 
dreaded  the  unforgiving  temper  of  Gallus,  and  were 

17  Julian  complains  that  his  brother  was  put  to  death  with- 
out a  trial ;  attempts  to  justify,  or  at  least  to  excuse,  the  cruel 
revenji^e  which  he  had  inflicted  on  his  enemies  ;  but  seems  at 
last  to  acknowledge  that  he  might  justly  iiave  been  deprived 
of  the  purple. 


i 


354  OF   THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  287 

desirous    of    reuniting   to    their    empire    the    wealthy 
provinces  of  the  East. 

Beside*  the  reigning  emperor^  Julian  alone  survived, 
of  all  the  numerous  posterity  of  Constantius  Chloriis. 
The  misfortune  of  his  royal  birth  involved  him  in  the 
disgrace  of  Gallus.  From  his  retirement  in  the  happy 
country  of  Ionia,  he  was  conveyed  under  a  strong 
guard  to  the  court  of  Milan  ;  where  he  languished 
above  seven  months,  in  the  continual  apprehension  of 
suifering  the  same  ignominious  death  which  was  daily 
iutiicted,  almost  before  his  eyes,  on  the  friends  and 
adherents  of  his  persecuted  family.  His  looks,  his 
gestures,  his  silence,  were  scrutinised  with  malignant 
curiosity,  and  he  was  perpetually  assaulted  by  enemies 
whom  he  had  never  o'tfended,  and  by  arts  to  which  he 
was  a  stranger.^*  But,  in  the  school  of  adversity, 
Julian  insensibly  acquired  the  virtues  of  firmness  and 
discretion.  He  defended  his  honour,  as  well  as  his 
life,  against  the  ensnaring  subtleties  of  the  eunuchs, 
who  endeavoured  to  extort  some  declaration  of  his 
sentiments  ;  and,  whilst  he  cautiously  suppressed  his 
grief  and  resentment,  he  nobly  disdained  to  Hatter  the 
tyrant  by  any  seeming  approbation  of  his  brother's 
murder.  Julian  most  devoutly  ascribes  his  miraculous 
deliverance  to  the  protection  of  the  gods,  who  had 
exempted  his  innocence  from  the  sentence  of  destruc- 
tion pronounced  by  their  justice  against  the  impious 
house  of  Constantino.^^  As  the  most  effectual  instru- 
ment of  their  providence,  he  gratefully  acknowledges 

18  Jiilian  himself,  in  his  epistle  to  the  Athenians,  draws  a 
very  lively  and  just  picture  of  his  own  danger,  and  of  his  senti- 
r.ients.  He  shows,  however,  a  tendency  to  exaggerate  his 
sufferings,  by  insinuating,  though  in  obscure  terras,  that  they 
lasted  above  a  year  ;  a  period  which  cannot  be  reconciled  with 
the  truth  of  chronology. 

19  Julian  has  worked  the  crimes  and  misfortunes  of  the 
family  of  Constantine  into  an  allegorical  fable,  which  is  happily 
conceived  and  agreably  related.  It  forms  the  conclusion  of  the 
seventh  Oration,  from  whence  it  has  been  detached  and  trans- 
lated by  the  Abb^  de  la  Bl^terie,  Vie  de  Jovien,  tom.  ii.  pp. 
385-408. 


288  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

the  steady  and  generous  friendship  of  the  empress 
Eusebia^^^  a  woman  of  beauty  and  merit,  who,  by  the 
ascendant  which  she  had  gained  over  tiie  mind  of 
her  husband,  counterbalanced,  in  some  measure,  the 
powerful  conspiracy  of  the  eunuchs.  By  the  inter- 
cession of  his  patroness,  Julian  was  admitted  into  the 
Imperial  presence  ;  he  pleaded  his  cause  with  a  decent 
freedom,  he  was  heard  with  favour ;  and,  notwitli- 
standing  the  efforts  of  his  enemies,  who  urged  the 
danger  of  sparing  an  avenger  of  the  blood  of  Gallus, 
the  milder  sentiment  of  Eusebia  prevailed  in  the 
council.  But  the  effects  of  a  second  interview  were 
dreaded  by  the  eunuchs;  and  Julian  was  advised  to 
withdraw  for  a  while  into  the  neighbourhood  of  Milan, 
till  the  emperor  thought  proper  to  assign  the  city  of 
Athens  for  the  place  of  his  honourable  exile.  As  he 
had  discovered  from  his  earliest  youth  a  propensity,  or 
rather  passion,  for  the  language,  the  manners,  the 
learning,  and  the  religion  of  the  Greeks,  he  obeyed 
with  pleasure  an  order  so  agreeable  to  his  wishes.  Far 
from  the  tumult  of  arms  and  the  treachery  of  courts, 
he  spent  six  months  amidst  the  groves  of  the  academy, 
in  a  free  intercourse  with  the  pliilosophers  of  the  age, 
who  studied  to  cultivate  the  genius,  to  encourage  the 
vanity,  and  to  inflame  the  devotion,  of  their  royal 
pupil.  Their  labours  were  not  unsuccessful  ;  and 
Julian  inviolably  preserved  for  Athens  that  tender 
regard  which  seldom  fails  to  arise  in  a  liberal  mind 
fioni  the  recollection  of  the  place  where  it  has  dis- 
covered and  exercised  its  growing  powers.  The 
gentleness  and  affability  of  manners,  which  his  temper 
suggested  and  his  situation  imposed,  insensibly  engaged 
the  affections  of  the  strangers,  as  well  as  citizens,  with 
whom  he  conversed.  Some  of  his  fellow-students  might 
perhaps  examine  his  behaviour  with  an  eye  of  prejudice 
and  aversion  ;   but  Julian  established,  in  the  schools 

2"  She  was  a  native  of  Thessalonica  in  Macedonia,  of  a  noble 
family,  and  the  daughter  as  well  as  sister  of  consuls.  Her 
marriage  with  the  emperor  may  lie  placed  in  the  year  352.  In 
a  divided  age  the  historians  of  all  parties  agree  in  her  praises. 


355  OF   THE   ROMAN   EMriRE  289 

of  Athens,  a  g-eneral  pre-possession  in  favour  of  his 
virtues  and  talents,  which  was  soon  diffused  over  the 
Roman  world. ^^ 

^Vhilst  his  hours  were  passed  in  studious  retirement, 
the  empress^  resolute  to  achieve  the  generous  design 
which  she  had  undertaken,  was  not  unmindful  of  the 
care  of  his  fortune.  Tlie  death  of  the  late  Caesar  had 
left  Constantius  invested  with  the  sole  command,  and 
oppressed  by  the  accumulated  weight,  of  a  mighty 
empire.  Before  the  wounds  of  civil  discord  could  be 
healed,  the  provinces  of  Gaul  were  overwhelmed  by  a 
deluge  of  Barbarians.  The  Sarmatians  no  longer  re- 
spected the  barrier  of  the  Danube.  The  impunity  of 
rapine  had  increased  the  boldness  and  numbers  of  the 
wild  Isaurians  :  those  robbers  descended  from  their 
craggy  mountains  to  ravage  the  adjacent  country,  and 
had  even  presumed,  though  without  success,  to  besiege 
the  important  city  of  Seleucia,  which  was  defended  by 
a  garrison  of  three  Roman  legions.  Above  all,  the 
Persian  monarch,  elated  by  victory,  again  threatened 
the  peace  of  Asia,  and  the  presence  of  the  emperor  was 
indispensably  required  both  in  the  "^^'e5t  and  in  the 
East.  For  the  first  time,  Constantius  sincerely  ac- 
knowledged that  his  single  strength  was  unequal  to 
such  an  extent  of  care  and  of  dominion.  Insensible  to 
the  voice  of  flattery,  which  assured  him  that  his  all- 
powerful  virtue  and  celestial  fortune  would  still  con- 
tinue to  triumph  over  every  obstacle,  he  listened  with 
complacency  to  the  advice  of  Eusebia,  which  gratified 
his  indolence,  without  offending  his  suspicious  pride. 
As  she  perceived  that  the  remembrance  of  Gallus  dwelt 
on  the  emperor's  mind,  she  artfully  turned  his  attention 

21  Libanius  and  Gregory  Nazianzen  have  exhausted  the  arts 
as  well  as  the  powers  of  their  eloquence,  to  represent  Julian  as 
the  first  of  heroes,  or  the  worst  of  tyrants.  Gregory  was  his 
fellow-student  at  Athens  ;  and  the  symptoms,  which  he  so 
tragically  describes,  of  the  future  wickedness  of  the  apostate 
amount  only  to  some  bodily  imperfections  and  to  some  p>ecu- 
liarities  in  his  speech  and  manner.  He  protests,  however,  that 
he  then  foresaw  and  foretold  the  calamities  of  the  church 
and  state. 

vol,.  II.  ^ 


290  THE   DECLINE   AND    FALL  a.d. 

to  the  opposite  characters  of  the  two  brothers,  which 
from  their  infancy  had  been  compared  to  those  of 
Domitian  and  of  Titus.  She  accustomed  her  husband 
to  consider  Julian  as  a  youth  of  a  mild  unambitious 
disposition,  whose  allegiance  and  gratitude  might  be 
secured  by  the  gift  of  the  purple,  and  who  was  qualified 
to  fill,  with  honour,  a  subordinate  station,  without 
aspiring  to  dispute  the  commands,  or  to  shade  the 
glories,  of  his  sovereign  and  benefactor.  After  an 
obstinate,  though  secret,  struggle,  the  opposition  of 
the  favourite  eunuchs  submitted  to  the  ascendency  of 
the  empress  ;  and  it  was  resolved  that  Julian,  after 
celebrating  his  ]iu))tials  with  Helena,  sister  of  Cou- 
stantius,  should  be  appointed,  with  the  title  of  Caesar, 
to  reign  over  the  countries  beyond  the  Alps. 

Although  the  order  which  recalled  him  to  court  was 
probably  accompanied  by  some  intimation  of  his  ap- 
proaching greatness,  he  appeals  to  the  people  of  Athens 
to  witness  his  tears  of  undissembled  sorrow,  when  he 
was  reluctantly  torn  away  from  his  beloved  retirement. 
He  trembled  for  his  life,  for  his  fame,  and  even  for 
his  virtue  ;  and  his  sole  confidence  was  derived  from 
the  pex'suasion  that  Minerva  inspired  all  his  actions, 
and  that  he  was  protected  by  an  invisible  guard  of 
angels,  whom  for  that  purpose  she  had  borrowed  from 
the  Sun  and  Moon.  He  approached  with  horror  the 
palace  of  Milan  ;  nor  could  the  ingenuous  youth  con- 
ceal his  indignation,  when  he  found  himself  accosted 
with  false  and  servile  respect  by  the  assassins  of  his 
family.  Eusebia,  rejoicing  in  the  success  of  her  bene- 
volent schemes,  embraced  him  with  the  tenderness 
of  a  sister  ;  and  endeavoured,  by  the  most  soothing 
caresses,  to  dispel  his  terrors  and  reconcile  him  to  his 
fortune.  But  the  ceremony  of  shaving  his  beard,  and 
his  awkward  demeanour,  when  he  first  e.vchanged  the 
cloak  of  a  Greek  philosopher  for  the  military  habit  of 
a  Roman  prince,  amused,  during  a  few  days,  the  levity 
of  the  Imperial  court.  ^■- 

22  Julian  himself  relates  (p.  274),  with  some  humour,  the 
circumstances  of  his  own  metamorphosis,  his  downcast  looks, 


'Soo  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  291 

The  emperors  of  the  a^e  of  Coustaiitiue  no  loager 
deigned  to  consult  with  the  senate  in  the  choice  of  a 
colleague  ;  but  they  were  anxious  that  their  nomination 
should  be  ratified  by  the  consent  of  the  army.  On 
this  solemn  occasion,  the  guards,  with  the  other  troops 
whose  stations  were  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Milan, 
appeared  under  arms ;  and  Constantius  ascended  his 
lofty  tribunal,  holding  by  the  hand  his  cousin  Julian, 
who  entered  the  same  day  into  the  twenty-fifth  year 
of  his  age.  In  a  studied  speech,  conceived  and  de- 
livered with  dignity,  the  emperor  represented  the 
various  dangers  which  threatened  the  prosperity  of 
the  republic,  the  necessity  of  naming  a  Caesar  for  the 
administration  of  the  ^Vest,  and  his  own  intention,  if 
it  was  agreeable  to  their  wishes,  of  rewarding  with  the 
honours  of  the  purple  the  promising  virtues  of  the 
nephew  of  Constantine.  The  approbation  of  the 
soldiers  was  testified  by  a  respectful  murmur  :  they 
gazed  on  the  manly  countenance  of  Julian,  and  observed 
with  pleasure  that  the  fire  which  sparkled  in  his  eyes 
was  tempered  by  a  modest  blush,  on  being  thus  ex- 
posed, for  the  first  time,  to  the  public  view  of  mankind. 
As  soon  as  the  ceremony  of  his  investiture  had  been 
performed,  Constantius  addressed  him  with  the  tone  of 
authority  which  his  superior  age  and  station  permitted 
him  to  assume  ;  and_,  exhorting  the  new  Csesar  to 
deserve,  by  heroic  deeds,  that  sacred  and  immort.-il 
name,  the  emperor  gave  his  colleague  the  strongest 
assurances  of  friendship  which  should  never  be  impaire<l 
by  time,  nor  interrupted  by  their  separation  into  the 
most  distant  climates.  As  soon  as  the  speech  was 
ended,  the  troops,  as  a  token  of  applause,  clashed  their 
shields  against  their  knees  ;  while  the  officers  who 
surrounded  the  tribunal  expressed,  with  decent  reserve, 
their  sense  of  the  merits  of  the  representative  of  Con- 
stantius. 

The  two  princes  returned  to  the  palace  in  the  same 

and  his  perplexity  at  being  thus  suddenly  transported  into 
a  new  world,  where  every  object  appeared  strange  and 
•hostile. 


292  THE   DECLINE   AND    FALL  ad 

chariot ;  and_,  during  the  slow  procession,  Julian  re- 
peated to  himself  a  verse  of  his  favourite  Homer, 
which  he  might  equally  apply  to  his  fortune  and  to  his 
fears.^^  The  four-and-tvrenty  days  which  the  Caesar 
spent  at  Milan  after  his  investiture,  and  the  first 
months  of  his  Gallic  reign,  were  devoted  to  a  splendid 
but  severe  captivity  ;  nor  could  the  acquisition  of 
honour  compensate  for  the  loss  of  freedom. 2*  His 
steps  were  watched,  his  correspondence  was  inter- 
cepted ;  and  he  was  obliged,  by  prudence,  to  decline 
the  visits  of  his  most  intimate  friends.  Of  his  former 
domestics,  four  only  were  permitted  to  attend  him  ; 
two  pages,  his  physician,  and  his  librarian  :  the  last  of 
whom  was  employed  in  the  care  of  a  valuable  collection 
of  books,  the  gift  of  the  empress,  who  studied  the 
inclinations  as  well  as  the  interest  of  her  friend.  In 
the  room  of  these  faithful  servants,  an  household  was 
formed,  such  indeed  as  became  the  dignity  of  a  Caesar  ; 
but  it  was  filled  with  a  crowd  of  slaves,  destitute  and 
perhaps  incapable  of  any  attachment  for  their  new 
master,  to  whom,  for  the  most  part,  they  were  either 
unknown  or  suspected.  His  vvant  of  experience  might 
require  the  assistance  of  a  wise  council  ;  but  the 
miTinte  instructions  which  regulated  the  service  of  his 
table,  and  the  distribution  of  his  hours,  were  adapted 
to  a  youth  still  under  the  discipline  of  his  preceptors, 
rather  than  to  the  situation  of  a  prince  entrusted 
with  the  conduct  of  an  im])ortant  war.  If  he  aspired 
to  deserve  the  esteem  of  his  subjects,  he  was  checked 

23  fSXa^e  irop(pvc€o^  ddvaro^  Kal  noTpa  Kparai-^.  The  word 
purple,  which  Homer  had  used  as  a  vague  bui  common  epithet 
for  death,  was  applied  by  Julian  to  express,  very  aptly,  the 
nature  and  object  of  his  own  apprehensions. 

2^  He  represents  in  the  most  pathetic  terms  (p.  277  [357])  the 
distress  of  his  new  situation.  The  provision  for  his  table  was, 
however,  so  elegant  and  sumptuous  that  the  young  philosopher 
rejected  it  with  disdain.  Quum  legeret  libellum  assidue,  quern 
Constantius  ut  privignum  ad  studia  mittens  manu  sua  con- 
scripserat,  prselicenter  disponens  quid  in  convivio  Csesaris 
impendi  deberet,  phasianum  et  vulvam  et  sumen  exigi  vetuit  et 
inferri.     Ammian,  Marcellin.  1.  xvi,  c.  5. 


355  OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  293 

by  the  fear  of  displeasing  his  sovereign  ;  and  even  the 
fruits  of  his  marriage-bed  were  blasted  by  the  jealous 
artifices  of  Eusebia  herself,  who,  on  this  occasion  alone, 
seems  to  have  been  unmindful  of  the  tenderness  of 
ner  sex  and  the  generosity  of  her  character.  The 
memory  of  his  father  and  of  his  brothers  reminded 
Julian  of  his  own  danger,  and  his  apprehensions  were 
increased  by  the  recent  and  unworthy  fate  of  Sylvan  us. 
In  the  summer  which  preceded  his  own  elevation,  that 
general  had  been  chosen  to  deliver  Gaul  from  the 
tyranny  of  the  Barbarians  ;  but  Sylvanus  soon  dis- 
covered that  he  had  left  his  most  dangerous  enemies 
in  the  Imperial  court.  A  dexterous  informer,  counte- 
nanced by  several  of  the  principal  ministers,  procured 
from  him  some  recommendatory  letters  ;  and  erazing 
the  whole  of  the  contents,  except  the  signature,  filled 
up  the  vacant  parchment  with  matters  of  high  and 
treasonable  import.  By  the  industry  and  courage  of 
his  friends,  the  fraud  was  however  detected,  and  in  a 
great  council  of  the  civil  and  military  officers,  held  in 
the  presence  of  the  emperor  himself,  the  innocence  of 
Sylvanus  was  publicly  acknowledged.  But  the  dis- 
covery came  too  late  ;  the  report  of  the  calumny  and 
the  hasty  seizure  of  his  estate  had  already  provoked 
the  indignant  chief  to  the  rebellion  of  which  he  was 
so  unjustly  accused.  He  assumed  the  purple  at  his 
head-quarters  of  Cologne,  and  his  active  powers  ap- 
peared to  menace  Italy  with  an  invasion,  and  Milan 
with  a  siege.  In  this  emergency,  Ursicinus,  a  general 
of  equal  rank,  regained,  by  an  act  of  treachery,  the 
favour  which  he  had  lost  by  his  eminent  services  in 
the  East.  Exasperated,  as  he  might  speciously  allege, 
by  injuries  of  a  similar  nature,  he  hastened  with  a  few 
followers  to  join  the  standard,  and  to  betray  the  con- 
fidence, of  his  too  credulous  friend.  After  a  reign  of 
only  twenty-eight  days,  Sylvanus  was  assassinated  : 
the  soldiers  who,  without  any  criminal  intention,  had 
blindly  followed  the  example  of  their  leader,  imme- 
diately returned  to  their  allegiance  ;  and  the  flatterers 
of  Coustantius  celebrated  the  wisdom  and  felicity  of 


294  THE   DECLINE  AND   FALL  a.i>. 

the  monarch  who  had  exting-uished  a  civil  war  without 
t)ie  hazard  of  a  hattle.^^ 

The  protection  of  the  Rhsetian  frontier,  and  the 
persecution  of  the  Catholic  Churchy  detained  Con- 
Ptantius  in  Italy  above  eighteen  months  after  the 
departure  of  Julian.  Before  the  emperor  returned 
into  the  East,  he  indulged  his  pride  and  curiosity  in  a 
visit  to  the  ancient  capital.  He  proceeded  from  Milan 
to  Rome  along  the  jjKniilian  and  Flaminian  ways  ;  and, 
as  soon  as  he  approached  within  forty  miles  of  the  city, 
the  march  of  a  prince  who  had  never  vanqui.shed  a 
foreign  enemy  assumed  the  appearance  of  a  triumphal 
procession.  His  splendid  train  was  composed  of  all  the 
ministers  of  luxury ;  but  in  a  time  of  profound  peace, 
he  was  encompassed  by  the  glittering"  arms  of  the 
numerous  squadrons  of  his  guards  and  cuirassiers. 
Their  streaming  banners  of  silk,  embossed  with  gold 
and  shaped  in  the  form  of  dragons,  waved  round  the 
person  of  the  emperor.  Constantius  sat  alone  in  a 
lofty  car  resplendent  with  gold  and  precious  gems  ; 
and,  except  when  he  bowed  his  head  to  pass  under  the 
gates  of  the  cities,  he  affected  a  stately  demeanour  of 
inflexible  and,  as  it  might  seem,  of  insensible  gravity. 
The  severe  discipline  of  the  Persian  youth  had  been 
introduced  by  the  eunuchs  into  the  Imperial  palace  ; 
and  such  were  the  habits  of  patience  which  they  had 
inculcated  that,  during  a  slow  and  sultry  march,  he 
was  never  seen  to  move  his  hand  towards  his  face  or  to 
turn  his  eyes  either  to  the  right  or  to  the  left.  He 
was  received  by  the  magistrates  and  senate  of  Rome  ; 
and  the  emperor  surveyed,  with  attention,  the  civil 
honours  of  the  republic  and  the  consular  images  of  the 
noble  families.  The  streets  were  lined  with  an  in- 
numerable multitude.  Their  repeated  acclamations 
expressed  their  joy  at  beholding,  after  an  absence  of 
thirty-two  years,  the  sacred  person  of  their  sovereign  ; 
and  Constantius  himself  expressed,  with  some  pleasantry, 

25  Ammianus  (xv.  5)  was  perfectly  well  informed  of  the 
conduct  and  fate  of  Sylvanus.  He  himself  was  one  of  the  few 
followers  who  attended  Ursicinus  in  his  dangerous  enterprise. 


357  OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  295 

his  affected  surprise  that  the  human  race  should  thus 
suddenly  be  collected  on  the  same  spot.  The  son 
of  Constantine  was  lodged  in  the  ancient  palace  of 
Augustus  :  he  presided  in  the  senate,  harangued  the 
people  from  the  tribunal  which  Cicero  had  so  often 
ascended,  assisted  with  unusual  courtesy  at  the  games 
of  the  circus,  and  accepted  the  crowns  of  gold  as  well 
as  the  panegyrics  which  had  been  prepared  for  this 
ceremony  by  the  deputies  of  the  principal  cities.  His 
short  visit  of  thirty  days  was  employed  in  viewing  the 
monuments  of  art  and  power  which  were  scattered  over 
the  seven  hills  and  the  interjacent  valleys.  He  admired 
the  awful  majesty  of  the  capitol,  the  vast  extent  of  the 
baths  of  Caracalla  and  Diocletian,  the  severe  simplicity 
of  the  Pantheon,  the  massy  greatness  of  the  amphi- 
theatre of  Titus,  the  elegant  architecture  of  the  theatre 
of  Pompey  and  the  Temple  of  Peace,  and,  above  all, 
the  stately  structure  of  the  Forum  and  column  of 
Trajan  ;  acknowledsring  that  the  voice  of  fame,  so  prone 
to  invent  and  to  magnify,  had  made  an  inadequate  re- 
port of  the  metropolis  of  the  world.  I'he  traveller, 
who  has  contemplated  the  ruins  of  ancient  Rome,  may 
conceive  some  imperfect  idea  of  the  sentiments  which 
they  must  have  inspired  when  they  reared  their  heads 
in  the  splendour  of  unsullied  beauty. 

The  satisfaction  which  Constantius  had  received 
from  this  journey  excited  him  to  the  generous  emula- 
tion of  bestowing  on  the  Romans  some  memorial  of 
his  own  gratitude  and  munificence.  His  first  idea 
was  to  imitate  the  equestrian  and  colossal  statue 
which  he  had  seen  in  the  Forum  of  Trajan  ;  but,  when 
he  had  maturely  weiofhed  the  difficulties  of  the  execu- 
tion,^^ he  chose  rather  to  embellish  the  capital  by  the 

26  Hormisdas,  a  fugitive  prince  of  Persia,  observed  to  the 
emperor  that,  if  he  made  such  a  horse,  he  must  think  of  pre- 
paring a  similar  stable  (the  Forum  of  Trajan).  Another  saying 
of  Hormisdas  is  recorded,  "  that  one  thing  only  had  displeased 
him,  to  find  that  men  died  at  Rome  as  well  as  elsewhere."  If 
we  adopt  this  reading  of  the  text  of  Ammianus  (displicuisse  in- 
stead oi placvisse),  we  may  consider  it  as  a  reproof  of  Roman 
vanity.     The  contrary  sense  would  be  that  of  a  misanthrope. 


296  THE    DECLINE   AND    FALL  a.d. 

gift  of  an  Egyptian  obelisk.  In  a  remote  but  polished 
age,  which  seems  to  have  preceded  the  invention  of 
alphabetical  writing,  a  great  number  of  these  obelisks 
had  been  erected,  in  the  cities  of  Thebes  and  HelJo- 
polis,  by  the  ancient  sovereigns  of  Egypt,  in  a  just 
confidence  that  the  simplicity  of  their  form  and  the 
hardness  of  their  substance  would  resist  the  injuries  of 
time  and  violence.-'^  Several  of  these  extraordinary 
columns  had  been  transported  to  Rome  by  Augustus 
and  his  successors,  as  the  most  durable  monuments  of 
their  power  and  victory  ;  but  there  remained  one 
obelisk  which,  from  its  size  or  sanctity,  escaped  for  a 
long  time  the  rapacious  vanity  of  the  conquerors.  It 
was  designed  by  Coustantine  to  adorn  his  new  city  ; 
and,  after  being  removed  by  his  order  from  the  pedestal 
where  it  stood  before  the  Temple  of  the  Sun  at  Helio- 
polis,  was  floated  down  the  Nile  to  Alexandria.  The 
death  of  Constantiue  suspended  the  execution  of  his 
purpose,  and  this  obelisk  was  destined  by  his  son  to 
the  ancient  capital  of  the  empire.  A  vessel  of  un- 
common strength  and  capaciousness  was  provided  to 
convey  this  enormous  weight  of  granite,  at  least  an 
hundred  an  fifteen  feet  in  length,  from  the  banks  of 
the  Nile  to  those  of  the  Tiber.  The  obelisk  of  Con- 
stant! us  was  landed  about  three  miles  from  the  city, 
and  elevated  by  the  efforts  of  art  and  labour,  in  the 
great  Circus  of  Rome. 

The  departure  of  Constantius  from  Rome  was 
hastened  by  the  alarming  intelligence  of  the  distress 
and  danger  of  the  Ulyriau  provinces.  Tlie  distractions 
of  civil  war,  and  the  irreparable  loss  which  the  Roman 
legions  had  sustained  in  the  battle  of  Mursa,  exposed 
those  countries,  almost  without  defence,  to  the  light 
cavalry    of   the   Barbarians  ;    and   particularly    to    the 

27  When  Germanicus  visited  the  ancient  monuments  of  Thebes, 
the  eldest  of  the  priests  explained  to  him  the  meaning  of  these 
hieroglyphics.  Tacit.  Annal.  ii.  c.  60.  But  it  seems  probable 
that  before  the  useful  invention  of  an  alphabet  these  natural  or 
arbitary  signs  were  the  common  characters  of  the  Egyptian 
nation. 


3.57-35P       OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  297 

inroads  of  the  Quadi,  a  fierce  and  powerful  nation, 
v\li.>  ?eem  to  have  exchang^ed  the  institutions  of 
Germany  for  the  arms  and  military  arts  of  their 
Sarmatian  allies.  The  garrisons  of  the  frontier  were 
insufficient  to  check  their  progress  ;  and  the  indolent 
monarch  was  at  length  compelled  to  assemble,  from 
the  extremities  of  his  dominions,  the  flower  of  the 
Palatine  troops,  to  take  the  field  in  person,  and  to 
employ  a  whole  campaig-n,  with  the  preceding  autumn 
and  the  ensuing  spring,  in  the  serious  prosecution  of 
the  war.  The  emperor  passed  the  Danube  on  a  bridge 
of  boats,  cut  in  pieces  all  that  encountered  his  march, 
penetrated  into  the  heart  of  the  country  of  the  Quadi, 
and  severely  retaliated  the  calamities  which  they  had 
inflicted  on  the  Roman  province.  The  dismayed 
Barbarians  were  soon  reduced  to  siie  for  peace  :  they 
offered  the  restitution  of  his  captive  subjects  as  an 
atonement  for  the  past,  and  the  noblest  hostages  as  a 
pledgre  of  their  future  conduct.  The  generous  ctourtesy 
which  was  shown  to  the  first  among  their  chieftains 
who  implored  the  clemency  of  Constantius  encouraged 
the  more  timid,  or  the  more  obstinate,  to  imitate  their 
examples  ;  and  the  Imperial  camp  was  crowded  with 
the  princes  and  ambassadors  of  the  most  distant  tribes, 
who  occupied  the  plains  of  the  Lesser  Poland,  and 
who  might  have  deemed  themselves  secure  behind 
the  lofty  ridge  of  the  Carpathian  mountains.  Whil^ 
Constantius  gave  laws  to  the  Barbarians  beyond  the 
Danube,  he  distinguished  with  specious  compassion 
the  Sarmatian  exiles  who  had  been  expelled  from  their 
native  country  by  the  rebellion  of  their  slaves,  and 
wlio  formed  a  very  considerable  accession  to  the 
power  of  the  Quadi.  The  emperor,  embracing  a 
generous  but  artful  system  of  policy,  released  the 
Sarmatians  from  the  bands  of  this  humiliating-  de- 
pendence, and  restored  them,  by  a  separate  treaty,  to 
the  dignity  of  a  nation  united  under  the  government 
of  a  king,  the  friend  and  ally  of  the  republic.  He 
declared  his  resolution  of  asserting  the  justice  of  their 
cause,  and  of  securing  the  peace  of  the  provinces  by 

vol..  II.  K  2 


298  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

tlie  extirpation,  or  at  least  the  bauishment,  of  the 
Liriiigaiites,  whose  manners  were  still  infected  witli 
the  vices  of  their  servile  origin.  The  execution  of 
this  desig-n  was  attended  with  more  difficulty  than 
^lory.  The  territory  of  the  Limigantes  was  protected 
against  the  Romans  by  the  Danube,  against  the  ho-stile 
Barbarians  by  the  Theiss.  The  marshy  lands  which 
lay  between  those  rivers,  and  were  often  covered  by 
their  inundations,  formed  an  intricate  wilderness, 
pervious  only  to  the  inhabitants,  who  were  acquainted 
with  its  secret  paths  and  inaccessible  fortresses.  On 
the  approach  of  Constantius,  the  Limigantes  tried  the 
efficacy  of  prayers,  of  fraud,  and  of  arms  ;  but  he 
sternly  rejected  their  supplications,  defeated  their 
rude  stratagems,  and  repelled  with  skill  and  firmness 
the  efforts  of  their  irregular  valour.  One  of  their 
most  warlike  tribes,  est;iblished  in  a  small  island 
towards  the  conflux  of  the  Theiss  and  the  Danube, 
consented  to  pass  the  river  with  the  intention  of 
surprising  the  emperor  during  the  security  of  an 
amicable  conference.  They  soon  became  the  victims 
of  the  perfidy  which  they  meditated.  Encompassed  on 
every  side,  trampled  down  by  the  cavalry,  slaughtered 
by  the  swords  of  the  legions,  they  disdained  to  ask  for 
mercy ;  and  with  an  undaunted  countenance  still 
grasped  their  weapons  in  the  agonies  of  death.  After 
this  victory  a  considerable  body  of  Romans  was  landed 
on  the  opposite  banks  of  the  Danube  ;  the  Taifake,  a 
Gothic  tribe  engaged  in  the  service  of  the  empire, 
invaded  the  Limigantes  on  the  side  of  the  Theiss  ;  and 
their  former  masters,  the  free  Sarmatians,  animated 
by  hope  and  revenge,  penetrated  through  tlie  hilly 
country  into  the  heart  of  their  ancient  possessions. 
A  general  conflagration  revealed  the  huts  of  the 
Barbarians,  which  were  seated  in  the  depth  of  tlie 
wilderness  ;  and  the  soldier  fought  with  confidence  on 
marshy  ground,  which  it  was  dangerous  for  him  to 
tread.  In  this  extremity  the  bravest  of  the  Limigantes 
were  resolved  to  die  in  arms,  rather  than  to  yield  : 
but  the  milder  sentiment,  enforced  by  the  authority 


358  OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  299 

of  their  elders^  at  lentrth  pi-evailed  ;  and  the  suppliant 
crovvd^  followed  by  their  wives  and  children,  repaired 
to  the  Imperial  camp_,  to  learn  their  fate  from  the 
mouth  of  the  conqueror.  After  celebrating  his  own 
clemency,  which  was  still  inclined  to  pardon  their 
repeated  crimes  and  to  spare  the  remnant  ox"  a  guilty 
nation,  Constantius  assigned  for  the  place  of  their 
exile  a  remote  country,  where  they  mig-ht  enjoy  a  safe 
and  honourable  repose.  The  Limigantes  obeyed  with 
reluctance ;  but  before  they  could  reach,  at  least 
before  they  could  occupy,  their  destined  habitations, 
they  returned  to  the  banks  of  the  Danube,  exaggerat- 
ing the  hardships  of  their  situation,  and  requesting, 
with  fervent  professions  of  fidelity,  that  the  emperor 
would  grant  them  au  undisturbed  settlement  within 
the  limits  of  the  Roman  provinces.  Instead  of  con- 
sulting his  own  experience  of  their  incurable  perfidy, 
Constantius  listened  to  his  flatterers,  who  were  ready 
to  represent  the  honour  and  advantage  of  accepting  a 
colony  of  soldiers,  at  a  time  when  it  was  much  easier 
to  obtain  the  pecuniary  contributions  than  the  military 
service  of  the  subjects  of  the  empire.  The  Limigantes 
were  permitted  to  pass  the  Danube  ;  and  the  emperor 
gave  audience  to  the  multitude  in  a  large  plain  near 
the  modern  city  of  Buda.  They  surrounded  the 
tribunal,  and  seemed  to  hear  with  respect  an  oration 
full  of  mildness  and  dignity  ;  when  one  of  the  Bar- 
barians, casting  his  shoe  into  the  air,  exclaimed  with  a 
loud  voice,  Marha!  Marha  !  a  word  of  defiance,  which 
was  received  as  the  signal  of  the  tumult.  They  rushed 
with  fury  to  seize  the  person  of  the  emperor ;  his 
royal  throne  and  golden  couch  were  pillaged  by  these 
rude  hands  ;  but  the  faithful  defence  of  his  guards, 
who  died  at  his  feet,  allowed  him  a  moment  to  mount 
a  fleet  horse,  and  to  escape  fi-om  the  confusion.  The 
disgrace  which  had  been  incurred  by  a  treacherous 
surprise  was  soon  retrieved  by  the  numbers  and  dis- 
cipline of  the  Romans  ;  and  the  combat  was  only 
tenninated  by  the  extinction  of  the  name  and  nation 
of  the    Limigantes.     The   free  Sarmatiaus    were  rein- 


300  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

stated  in  the  possession  of  their  ancient  seats  ;  and, 
although  Constantiiis  distrusted  the  levity  of  their 
character,  he  entertained  some  hopes  that  a  sense  of 
gratitude  might  influence  their  future  conduct.  He 
had  remarked  the  lofty  stature  and  obsequious  de- 
meanour of  Zizais,  one  of  the  noblest  of  their  chiefs. 
He  conferred  on  him  the  title  of  King  ;  and  Zizais 
proved  that  lie  was  not  unworthy  to  reign  by  a  sincere 
and  lasting  attachment  to  the  interest  of  his  benefactor, 
who,  after  this  splendid  success,  received  the  name  ot 
SnrmaticMS  from  the  acclamations  of  his  victorious 
army. 

While  the  Roman  emperor  and  the  Persian  monarch, 
at  the  distance  of  three  thousand  miles,  defended  their 
extreme  limits  against  the  Barbarians  of  the  Danube 
and  of  theOxus,  their  intermediate  frontier  experienced 
the  vicissitudes  of  a  languid  war,  and  a  precarious 
truce.  Two  of  the  eastern  ministers  of  Constantius, 
the  Prfetorian  prfefect  Musonian,  whose  abilities  were 
disgraced  by  the  want  of  truth  and  integrity,  and 
Cnssian,  duke  of  Mesopotamia,  a  hardy  and  veteran 
soldier,  opened  a  secret  negotiation  with  the  satrap 
Tamsapor.  These  overtures  of  peace,  translated  into 
the  servile  and  flattering  language  of  Asia,  were  trans- 
mitted to  the  camp  of  the  Great  King  ;  who  resolved 
to  signify,  by  an  ambassador,  the  terms  which  he  was 
inclined  to  grant  to  the  suppliant  Romans.  Narses. 
whom  he  invested  with  that  character,  was  honourably 
received  in  his  passage  through  Antioch  and  Con- 
stantinople :  he  reached  Sirmium  after  a  long  journey, 
and,  at  his  first  audience,  respectfully  unfolded  the 
silken  veil  which  covered  the  haughty  epistle  of  his 
sovereign.  Sapor,  King  of  Kings,  and  Brother^of  the 
Sun  and  Moon  (such  were  the  lofty  titles  afl'ected  by 
oriental  vanity),  expressed  his  satisfaction  that  his 
brother,  Constantius  Caesar,  had  been  taught  wisdom 
by  adversity.  As  the  lawful  successor  of  Darius 
Plystaspes,  Sapor  asserted  that  the  river  Strymon  in 
Macedonia  was  the  true  and  ancient  boundary  of  his 
empire  ;  declaring,  however,  that,  as  an  evidence  of 


358  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  801 

his  moderation,  he  would  couteut  himself  with  the 
provinces  of  Armenia  and  Mesopotamia,  which  had 
been  fraudulently  extorted  from  his  ancestors.  He 
alleged  that,  without  the  restitution  of  these  disputed 
countries,  it  was  impossible  to  establish  any  treaty 
on  a  solid  and  permanent  basis  ;  and  he  arrogantly 
threatened  that,  if  his  ambassador  returned  in  vain, 
he  was  prepared  to  take  the  field  in  the  spring,  and  to 
support  the  justice  of  his  cause  by  the  strength  of  his 
invincible  arms.  Xarses,  who  was  endowed  with  the 
most  polite  and  amiable  manners,  endeavoured,  as  far 
as  was  consistent  with  his  duty,  to  soften  the  harshness 
of  the  message.  Both  the  style  and  the  substance 
were  maturely  weighed  in  the  Imperial  council,  and 
he  was  dismissed  with  the  following  answer  :  "  Con- 
stant! us  had  a  right  to  disclaim  the  olficiousness  of  his 
ministers,  who  had  acted  without  any  specific  orders 
from  the  throne  :  he  was  not,  however,  averse  to  an  equal 
and  honourable  treaty  ;  but  it  was  highly  indecent,  as 
well  as  absurd,  to  propose  to  the  sole  and  victorious 
emperor  of  the  Roman  world  the  same  conditions  of 
peace  which  he  had  indignantly  rejected  at  the  time 
when  his  power  was  contracted  within  the  narrow 
limits  of  the  East  :  the  chance  of  arms  was  uncertain  ; 
ami  Sapor  should  recollect  that,  if  the  Romans  had 
sometimes  been  vanquished  in  battle,  they  had  almost 
always  been  successful  in  the  event  of  the  war."  A 
few  days  after  the  departure  of  Narses,  three  am- 
bassadors were  sent  to  the  court  of  Sapor,  who  was 
already  returned  from  the  Scythian  expedition  to  his 
ordinary  residence  of  Ctesiphon.  A  count,  a  notary, 
and  a  sophist  had  been  selected  for  this  important  com- 
mission ;  and  Constautius,  who  was  secretly  anxious 
for  the  conclusion  of  the  peace,  entertained  some  hopes 
that  the  dignity  of  the  first  of  these  ministers,  the 
dexterity  of  the  second,  and  the  rhetoric  of  the  third  ^ 

28  The  sophist,  or  philosopher  (in  that  age  these  words  were 
ahnost  synonymous),  was  Eustathius  the  Cappadocian,  the 
disciple  of  Jamblichus,  and  the  friend  of  St.  Basil.     Eunapius 


302  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

would  persuade  the  Persian  monarch  to  abate  the  rigour 
of  his  demands.  But  the  progress  of  their  neijotia- 
tion  was  opposed  and  defeated  by  the  hostile  arts  of 
Antoninus.-^  a  Roman  subject  of  Syria^  who  had  fled 
from  oppression,  and  was  admitted  into  the  councils  of 
Sapor,  and  even  to  the  royal  table,  where,  according 
to  the  custom  of  the  Persians,  the  most  important 
business  was  frequently  discussed. ^^  The  dexterous 
fugitive  promoted  his  interest  by  the  same  conduct 
which  gratified  his  revenge.  He  incessantly  urged  the 
ambition  of  his  new  master  to  embrace  the  favourable 
opportunity  when  the  bravest  of  the  Palatine  troops 
were  employed  with  the  emperor  in  a  distant  war  on 
the  Danube.  He  pressed  Sapor  to  invade  the  exhausted 
and  defenceless  provinces  of  the  East,  with  the  numerous 
armies  of  Persia,  now  fortified  by  the  alliance  and 
accession  of  the  fiercest  Barbai-ians.  The  ambassadors 
of  Rome  retired  without  success,  and  a  second  embassy  of 
a  still  more  honourable  rank  was  detained  in  strict  con- 
finement, and  threatened  either  with  death  or  exile. 

The  military  historian,  who  was  himself  despatched 
to  observe  the  army  of  the  Persians,  as  they  were  pre- 
paring to  construct  a  bridge  of  boats  over  the  Tigris, 
beheld  from  an  eminence  the  plain  of  Assyria,  as  far 
as  the  edge  of  the  horizon,  covered  with  men,  with 
horses,  and  with  arms.  Sapor  appeared  in  the  front, 
conspicuous  by  the  splendour  of  his  purple.  On  his 
left  hand,  the  place  of  honour  among  the  Orientals, 
Grumbates,  kiu^  of  the  Chionites,  displayed  the  stern 

(in  vit.  /Edesii,  pp.  44-47)  fondly  attributes  to  this  philosophic 
ambassa  ior  the  glory  of  enchanting  the  Barbarian  king  by  the 
persuasive  charms  of  reason  and  eloquence. 

2"  The  decent  and  respectful  behaviour  of  Antoninus  towards 
the  Roman  general  sets  him  in  a  very  interesting  light  :  and 
Aramianus  himself  speaks  of  the  traitor  with  some  compassion 
and  esteem. 

30  This  circumstance,  as  it  is  noticed  by  Ammianus,  serves  to 
prove  the  veracity  of  Herodotus  (1.  i.  c.  133),  and  the  perman- 
ency of  the  Persian  manners.  In  every  age  the  Persians  have 
been  addicted  to  intemperance,  and  the  wines  of  Shiraz  have 
triumphed  over  the  law  of  Mahomet. 


359  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  803 

countenance  of  an  ag-ed  and  renowned  warrior.  The 
monarcli  bad  reserved  a  similar  place  on  his  ri^ht 
hand  for  the  kin^  of  the  Albanians,  who  led  his  in- 
dependent tribes  from  the  shores  of  the  Caspian.  Tlie 
Sfitraps  and  generals  M-ere  distributed  according  to 
their  several  ranks,  and  the  whole  army,  besides  the 
numerous  train  of  oriental  luxury,  consisted  of  more 
than  one  hundred  thousand  eft'ective  men,  inured  to 
fatigue,  and  selected  from  the  bravest  nations  of  Asia. 
The  Roman  deserter,  who  in  some  measure  guided  the 
councils  of  Sapor,  had  prudently  advised  that,  instead 
of  wasting  the  summer  in  tedious  and  difficult  sieges, 
he  should  march  directly  to  the  Euphrates,  and  press 
forwards  without  delay  to  seize  the  feeble  and  wealthy 
metropolis  of  Syria.  But  the  Persians  were  no  sooner 
advanced  into  the  plains  of  Mesopotamia  than  they 
discovered  that  every  precaution  had  been  used  which 
could  retard  their  progress  or  defeat  their  design. 
The  inhabitants,  with  their  cattle,  were  secured  in 
places  of  strength,  the  green  forage  throughout  the 
country  was  set  on  fire,  the  fords  of  the  river  were 
fortified  by  sharp  stakes  ;  military  engines  were  planted 
on  the  opposite  banks,  and  a  seasonable  swell  of  the 
waters  of  the  Euphrates  deterred  the  Barbarians  from 
attempting  the  ordinary  passage  of  the  bridge  of 
Thapsacus.  Their  skilful  guide,  changing  his  plan 
of  operations,  then  conducted  the  army  by  a  longer 
circuit,  but  through  a  fertile  territory,  towards  the 
head  of  the  Euphrates,  where  the  infant  river  is  re- 
duced to  a  shallow  and  accessible  stream.  Sapor  over- 
looked, with  prudent  disdain,  the  strength  of  Nisibis  ; 
but,  as  he  passed  under  the  walls  of  Amida,  he  resolved 
to  try  whether  the  majesty  of  his  presence  would  not 
awe  the  garrison  into  immediate  submission.  The 
sacrilegious  insult  of  a  random  dart,  which  glanced 
against  the  royal  tiara,  convinced  him  of  his  error  ; 
and  the  indignant  monarch  listened  with  impatience 
to  the  advice  of  his  ministers,  who  conjured  him  not 
to  sacrifice  the  success  of  his  ambition  to  the  gratifica- 
tion of  his  resentment.     The  following  day  Grum bates 


304  THE   DECLINE   AND    FALL  a.d. 

advauced  towards  the  gates  with  a  select  body  of  troops, 
aud  required  the  iustaut  surrender  of  the  city  as  the 
ouly  atonement  which  could  be  accepted  for  such  an 
act  of  rashness  and  insolence.  His  proposals  were 
answered  by  a  general  discharge,  aud  his  only  sou,  a 
beautiful  and  valiant  youth,  was  pierced  through  the 
heart  by  a  javelin,  shot  from  one  of  the  balistae.  The 
funeral  of  the  prince  of  the  Chionites  was  celebrated 
according  to  the  rites  of  his  country  ;  and  the  grief  of 
his  aged  father  was  alleviated  by  the  solemn  promise 
of  Sapor  that  the  guilty  city  of  Amida  should  serve  as 
a  funeral  pile  to  expiate  the  death,  and  to  perpetuate 
the  memory,  of  his  sou. 

The  ancient  city  of  Amid  or  Amida,  which  sometimes 
assumes  the  provincial  appellation  of  Diarbekir,^!  is 
advantageously  situate  in  a  fertile  plain,  watered  by 
the  natural  and  artiticial  channels  of  the  Tigris,  of 
which  the  least  inconsidsrable  stream  l>ends  in  a  semi- 
circular form  round  the  eastern  part  of  the  city.  The 
emperor  Constantius  had  recently  conferred  on  Amida 
the  honour  of  his  own  name,  and  the  additional  forti- 
fications of  strong  walls  aud  lofty  towers.  It  was  pro- 
vided with  an  arsenal  of  military  engines,  and  the 
ordinary  garrison  had  been  reinforced  to  the  amount 
of  seven  legions,  when  the  place  was  invested  by  the 
arms  of  Sapor.  His  first  aud  most  sanguine  hopes 
depended  on  the  success  of  a  general  assault.  To  the 
several  nations  which  followed  his  standard  their  re- 
spective posts  were  assigned  ;  the  south  to  the  Vert*, 
the  north  to  the  Albanians,  the  east  to  the  Chionites, 
inflamed  with  grief  and  indignation  ;  the  west  to  the 
Segestans,  the  bravest  of  his  warriors,  who  covered 
their  front  with  a  formidable  line  of  Indian  elephants. ^'^ 

31  Diarbekir,  which  is  styled  Amid,  or  Kara-Amid,  in  the 
public  writings  of  the  Turks,  contains  above  16,000  houses,  and 
is  the  residence  of  a  pasha  with  three  tails.  The  epithet  of 
Kara  is  derived  from  the  blackness  of  the  stone  which  composes 
the  strong  and  ancient  wall  of  Amida. 

32  Of  these  four  nations,  the  Albanians  are  too  well  known  to 
require  any  description.  The  Segestans  inhabited  a  large  and 
level  country,  which  still  preserves  their  name,  to  the  south  of 


369  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  306 

The  Persians,  ou  every  side,  supported  their  efforts, 
and  aiiiniated  their  couraj^e  ;  aud  the  monarch  himself, 
careless  of  his  rank  aud  safety^  displayed,  iu  the  pro- 
secution of  the  siej^e,  the  ardour  of  a  youthful  snidier. 
After  au  obstinate  combat  the  Barbarians  vvere  re- 
pulsed ;  they  incessantly  returned  to  the  charjt^e  ;  they 
were  again  driven  back  with  a  dreadful  slaughter, 
and  two  rebel  legions  of  Gauls,  who  had  been  banished 
into  the  East,  signalised  their  undisciplined  courage 
by  a  nocturnal  sally  into  the  heart  of  the  Persian  camp. 
In  one  of  the  fiercest  of  these  repeated  assaults,  Amida 
was  betrayed  by  the  treachery  of  a  deserter,  who  in- 
dicated to  the  Barbarians  a  secret  and  neglected  stair- 
case, scooped  out  of  the  rock  that  hangs  over  the 
stream  of  the  Tigris.  Seventy  chosen  archers  of  the 
royal  guard  ascended  in  silence  to  the  third  story  of 
a  lofty  tower  which  commanded  the  precipice  ;  they 
elevated  on  high  the  Persian  banner,  the  signal  of 
confidence  to  the  assailants  and  of  dismay  to  the  be- 
sieged ;  and,  if  this  devoted  band  could  have  maintained 
their  post  a  few  minutes  longer,  the  reduction  of  the 
place  might  have  been  purchased  by  the  sacrifice  of 
their  lives.  After  Sapor  had  tried,  without  success, 
the  eflScacy  of  force  aud  of  stratagem,  he  had  recourse 
to  the  slower  but  more  certain  operations  of  a  regular 
siege,  in  the  conduct  of  which  he  was  instructed  by 
the  skill  of  the  Roman  deserters.  The  trenches  were 
opened  at  a  convenient  distance,  and  the  troops 
destined  for  that  service  advanced  under  the  portable 
cover  of  strong  hurdles,  to  fill  up  the  ditch  and  under- 
mine the  foundations  of  the  walls.  Wooden  towers 
were  at  the  same  time  constructed,  and  moved  forwards 
on  wheels,  till  the  soldiers,  who  were  provided  with 
every  species  of  missile  weapons,  could  engage  almost 

Ktiorasan,  and  the  west  of  Hindostan.  Notwithstanding  the 
boasted  victory  of  Bahram,  the  Segestans,  above  fourscore  years 
afterwards,  appear  as  an  independent  nation,  the  ally  of  Persia, 
We  are  ignorant  of  the  situation  of  the  Vertae  and  Chionites, 
but  I  am  inclined  to  place  them  (at  least  the  latter)  towards 
the  confines  of  India  and  Scythia. 


306  THE   DECLINE   AND    FALl.  a.d. 

on  level  ground  with  the  troops  who  defended  the 
rampart.  Every  mode  of  resistance  which  art  could 
su^g"est,  or  courage  could  execute,  was  employed  in 
the  defence  of  Amida,  and  the  works  of  Sapor  were 
more  than  once  der:troyed  by  the  fire  of  the  Romans. 
But  the  resources  of  a  besieged  city  maybe  exhausted. 
Tlie  Persians  repaired  their  losses,  and  pushed  their 
approaches  ;  a  larare  breach  was  made  by  the  battering- 
ram,  and  the  strensth  of  the  garrison,  wasted  by  the 
sword  and  by  disease,  yielded  to  the  fury  of  the  assault. 
The  soldiers,  the  citizens,  their  wives,  their  children, 
all  who  had  not  time  to  escape  through  the  opposite 
gate,  were  involved  by  the  conquerors  in  a  promiscuous 
massacre. 

But  the  ruin  of  Amida  was  the  safety  of  the  Roman 
provinces.  As  soon  as  the  first  transports  of  victory 
had  subsided.  Sapor  was  at  leisure  to  reflect  that,  to 
cliastise  a  disobedient  city,  he  had  lost  the  flower  of 
his  troops,  and  the  most  favourable  season  for  con- 
quest.^-' Thirty  thousand  of  his  veterans  had  fallen 
under  the  walls  of  Amida  during  the  continuance  of  a 
siege  which  lasted  seventy-three  days  ;  and  the  disap- 
pointed monarch  returned  to  his  capital  with  afl'ected 
triumph  and  secret  mortification.  It  was  more  than 
probable  that  the  inconstancy  of  his  Barbarian  allies 
was  tempted  to  relinquish  a  war  in  which  they  had 
encountered  such  unexpected  difficulties  ;  and  that  the 
aged   king  of  the    Chionites,    satiated   with   revenge, 

^^-  Ammianus  has  marked  the  chronology  of  this  year  by  three 
signs,  which  do  not  perfectly  coincide  with  each  other,  or  with 
the  series  of  the  history,  i.  The  corn  was  ripe  when  Sapor  in- 
vaded Mesopotamia  ;  "  Cum  jam  stipulA  flavente  turgerent ;  " 
a  circumstance  which,  in  the  latitude  of  Aleppo,  would  naturally 
refer  us  to  the  month  of  April  or  May.  2.  The  progress  of 
Sapor  was  checked  by  the  overflowing  of  the  Euphrates,  which 
generally  happens  in  July  and  August.  When  Sapor  had  taken 
Amida,  after  a  siege  of  seventy-three  days,  the  autumn  was  far 
advanced.  "  Autumno  prrecipifi  haedorumque  improbo  sidere 
exorto."  To  reconcile  these  apparent  contradictions,  we  must 
allow  for  some  delay  in  the  Persian  king,  some  inaccuracy  in 
the  historian,  and  some  disorder  in  the  seasons. 


360  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  307 

turned  away  witli  horror  from  a  scene  of  action  where 
he  had  been  deprived  of  the  hope  of  his  family  and 
nation.  The  strength  as  well  as  spirit  of  the  army 
with  which  Sapor  took  the  field  in  the  ensuing  spring 
was  no  longer  equal  to  the  unbounded  views  of  his 
ambition.  Instead  of  aspiring  to  the  conquest  of  the 
East,  he  was  obliged  to  content  himself  with  the 
reduction  of  two  fortified  cities  of  Mesopotamia, 
Singara  and  Bezabde  ;  the  one  situate  in  the  midst  of 
8  sandy  desert,  the  other  in  a  small  peninsula,  sur- 
rounded almost  on  every  side  by  the  deep  and  rapid 
stream  of  the  Tigris.  Five  Roman  legions,  of  the 
diminutive  size  to  which  they  had  been  reduced  in  the 
age  of  Constantine,  were  made  prisoners,  and  sent  into 
remote  captivity  on  the  extreme  confines  of  Persia. 
After  dismantling  the  walls  of  Singara,  the  conqueror 
abandoned  that  solitary  and  sequestered  place  ;  but 
he  carefully  restored  the  fortifications  of  Bezabde,  and 
fixed  in  that  important  post  a  garrison  or  colony  of 
veterans,  amply  supplied  with  every  means  of  defence, 
and  animated  by  high  sentiments  of  honour  and  fidelity. 
Towards  the  close  of  the  campaign,  the  arms  of  Sapor 
incurred  some  disgrace  by  an  unsuccessful  enterprise 
against  Virtha,  or  Tecrit,  a  strong,  or  as  it  was  uni- 
versally esteemed  till  the  age  of  Tamerlane,  an  impreg- 
nable fortress  of  the  independent  Arabs. 

The  defence  of  the  East  against  the  arms  of  Sapor 
required,  and  would  have  exercised,  the  abilities  of  the 
most  consummate  general  :  and  it  seemed  fortunate 
for  the  state  that  it  was  the  actual  province  of  the 
brave  Ursicinus,  who  alone  deserved  the  confidence 
of  the  soldiers  and  people.  In  the  hour  of  danger, 
Ursicinus  was  removed  from  his  station  by  the  in- 
trigues of  the  eunuchs  ;  and  the  military  command  of 
the  East  was  bestowed,  by  the  same  influence,  on 
Sabinian,  a  wealthy  and  subtle  veteran,  who  had 
attained  the  infirmities,  without  acquiring  the  experi- 
ence, of  age.  By  a  second  order,  which  issued  from 
the  same  jealous  and  inconstant  counsels,  Ursicinus 
was  again  despatched  to  the  frontier  of  Mesopotamia, 


308  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.i>. 

aud  coudemDed  to  sustain  the  labours  of  a  war,  the 
honours  of  which  had  been  transferred  to  his  unwortliy 
rival.  Sabinian  fixed  his  indolent  station  under  tiie 
walls  of  Edessa ;  and,  while  he  amused  himself  with 
the  idle  parade  of  military  exercise,  and  moved  to  the 
sound  of  flutes  in  the  Pyrrhic  dance,  the  public  de- 
fence was  abandoned  to  the  boldness  and  diligence 
of  the  former  general  of  the  East.  But,  whene\er 
Ursicinus  recommended  any  vigorous  plan  of  opera- 
tions ;  when  he  proposed,  at  the  head  of  a  light  and 
active  army,  to  wheel  round  the  foot  of  the  mountains, 
to  intercept  the  convoys  of  the  enemy,  to  harass  the 
wide  extent  of  the  Persian  lines,  and  to  relieve  the 
distress  of  Amida  ;  the  timid  and  envious  commander 
alleged  that  he  was  restrained  by  his  positive  orders 
from  endangering  the  safety  of  the  troops.  Amida 
was  at  length  taken  ;  its  bravest  defenders,  who  h.id 
escaped  the  sword  of  the  Barbarians,  died  in  the 
Roman  camp  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner;  and 
Ursicinus  himself,  after  supporting  the  disgrace  of  a 
partial  inquiry,  was  punished  for  the  misconduct  of 
Sabinian  by  the  loss  of  his  military  rank.  But  Con- 
stantius  soon  experienced  the  truth  of  the  prediction 
which  honest  indignation  had  extorted  from  his  injured 
lieutenant,  that,  as  long  as  such  maxims  of  government 
were  suffered  to  prevail,  the  emperor  himself  would 
find  it  no  easy  task  to  defend  his  eastern  dominions 
from  the  invasion  of  a  foreign  enemy.  When  he  had 
subdued  or  pacified  the  Barbarians  of  the  Danube, 
Constantius  proceeded  by  slow  marches  into  the  East  : 
and,  after  he  had  wept  over  the  smoking  ruins  of 
Amida,  he  formed,  with  a  powerful  army,  the  siege  of 
Bezuhde.  The  walls  were  shaken  by  the  reiterated 
efforts  of  the  most  enormous  of  the  battering-rams  : 
the  town  was  reduced  to  the  last  extremity  ;  but  it 
was  still  defended  by  the  patient  and  intrepid  valour 
of  the  garrison,  till  the  approach  of  the  rainy  season 
obliged  the  emperor  to  raise  the  siege,  and  ingloriously 
to  retreat  into  his  winter  quarters  at  Antioch.  Tlie 
pride  of  Constantius  and  the  ingenuity  of  his  courtiers 


3no-361        OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  309 

were  at  a  loss  to  discover  any  materials  for  paneg-yric 
ill  the  events  of  the  Persian  war  ;  while  the  glory  of  his 
cousin  Julian,  to  whose  military  command  he  had  en- 
trusted the  provinces  of  Gaul,  was  proclaimed  to  the 
world  in  the  simple  and  concise  narrative  of  his  exploits. 
In  the  hlind  fury  of  civil  discord.  C'onstantius  had 
ahandoned  to  the  Barbarians  of  Germany  the  countries 
of  Gaul,  which  still  acknowledged  the  authority  of  his 
rival.  A  numerous  swarm  of  Franks  and  Alemanni 
were  invited  to  cross  the  Rhine  by  presents  and  pro- 
mises, by  the  hopes  of  spoil,  and  by  a  perpetual  grant 
of  all  the  territories  which  they  should  be  able  to 
subdue.  But  the  emperor,  who  for  a  temporary  service 
had  thus  imprudently  provoked  the  rapacious  spirit 
of  the  Barbarians,  soon  discovered  and  lamented  the 
difficulty  of  dismissing  these  formidable  allies,  after 
they  had  tasted  the  richness  of  the  Roman  soil. 
Resrardless  of  the  nice  distinction  of  loyalty  and  re- 
bellion, these  undisciplined  robbers  treated  as  their 
natural  enemies  all  the  subjects  of  the  empire,  who 
possessed  any  property  which  they  were  desirous  of 
acquiring.  Forty -five  flourishing  cities,  Tongres, 
Coloerne,  Treves,  Worms,  Spires,  Strasburg,  <Src., 
besides  a  far  greater  number  of  towns  and  villages, 
we7'e  pillaged,  and  for  the  most  part  reduced  to  ashes. 
TTie  Barbarians  of  Germany,  still  faithful  to  the 
maxims  of  their  ancestors,  abhorred  the  confinemient 
of  walls,  to  which  they  applied  the  odious  names  of 
prisons  and  sepulchres  ;  and,  fi.xing  their  independent 
habitations  on  the  banks  of  rivers,  the  Rhine,  the 
Moselle,  and  the  Meuse,  they  secured  themselves 
against  the  danger  of  a  surprise  by  a  rude  and  hasty 
fortification  of  large  trees,  which  were  felled  and 
thrown  across  the  roads.  The  Alemanni  were  estab- 
lished in  the  modern  countries  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine  ; 
the  Franks  occupied  the  island  of  the  Batavians, 
together  with  an  extensive  district  of  Brabant,  which 
was  then   known   by  the  appellation   of  To.vandrin,^ 

34  Ammianus  (xvi.  8).     This  name  seems  to  be  derived  from 
the  Toxandri  of  Pliny,  and  very  frequently  occurs  in  the  histories 


310  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

and  may  deserve  to  be  considered  as  the  orij^iual  seat 
of  their  Gallic  monarchy. -^^  From  the  sources  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Rhine,  the  conquests  of  the  Germans 
extended  above  forty  miles  to  the  west  of  that  river, 
over  a  country  peopled  by  colonies  of  their  own  name 
and  nation  ;  and  the  scene  of  their  devastations  was 
three  times  more  extensive  than  that  of  their  conquests. 
At  a  still  greater  distance  the  open  towns  of  Gaul  were 
deserted,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  fortified  cities, 
who  trusted  to  their  strength  and  vigilance,  were 
obliged  to  content  themselves  with  such  supplies  of 
corn  as  they  could  raise  on  the  vacant  land  within 
the  inclosure  of  their  walls.  The  diminished  legions, 
destitute  of  pay  and  provisions,  of  arms  and  discipline, 
trembled  at  the  approach,  and  even  at  the  name,  of 
the  Barbarians. 

Under  these  melancholy  circumstances,  an  unex- 
perienced youth  was  appointed  to  save  and  to  govern 
the  provinces  of  Gaul,  or  rather,  as  he  expresses  it 
himself,  to  exhibit  the  vain  image  of  imperial  great- 
ness. The  retired  scholastic  education  of  Julian,  in 
which  he  had  been  more  conversant  with  books  than 
with  arms,  with  the  dead  than  with  the  living,  left 
him  in  profound  ignorance  of  the  practical  arts  of  war 
and  government ;  and,  when  he  awkwardly  repeated 
some  military  exercise  which  it  was  necessary  for  him 
to  learn,  he  exclaimed  with  a  sigh,  '^  O  Plato,  Plato, 
what   a    task    for    a    philosopher  ! "      Yet    even    this 

of  the  middle  age.  Toxandria  was  a  country  of  woods  and 
morasses  which  extended  from  the  neighbourhood  of  Tongres 
to  the  conflux  of  the  Vahal  and  the  Rhine. 

35  The  paradox  of  P.  Daniel,  that  the  Franks  never  obtained 
any  permanent  settlement  on  his  side  of  the  Rhine  before  the 
time  of  Clovis,  is  refuted  with  much  learning  and  good  sense  by 
M.  Biet,  who  has  proved,  by  a  chain  of  evidence,  their  uninter- 
rupted possession  of  Toxandria  one  hundred  and  thirty  years 
before  the  accession  of  Clovis.  The  Dissertation  of  M.  Biet  was 
crowned  by  the  Academy  of  Soissons  in  the  year  1736,  and 
seems  to  have  been  justly  preferred  to  the  discourse  of  his  more 
celebrated  competitor,  the  Abb6  le  Boeuf,  an  antiquarian  vvhose 
name  was  happily  expressive  of  his  talents. 


360-o<jl       OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  311 

speculative  philosophy,  which  men  of  business  are  too 
apt  to  despise,  had  filled  the  mind  of  Julian  with  the 
noblest  precepts  and  the  most  shining  examples  ;  had 
animated  him  with  the  love  of  virtue,  the  desire  of 
fame,  and  the  contempt  of  death.  The  habits  of 
temperance  recommended  in  the  schools  are  still  more 
essential  in  the  severe  discipline  of  a  camp.  The 
simple  wants  of  nature  regulated  the  measure  of  his 
food  and  sleep.  Rejecting-  with  disdain  the  delicacies 
provided  for  his  table,  he  satisfied  his  appetite  with 
the  coarse  and  common  fare  which  was  allotted  to  the 
meanest  soldiers.  During  the  rigour  of  a  Gallic  winter, 
he  never  suifered  a  fire  in  his  bed-chamber  ;  and  after 
a  short  and  interrupted  slumber  he  frequently  rose 
in  the  middle  of  the  nrght  from  a  carpet  spread  on 
the  floor,  to  despatch  any  urgent  business,  to  visit  his 
rounds,  or  to  steal  a  few  moments  for  the  prosecution 
of  his  favourite  studies.^^  The  precepts  of  eloquence 
which  he  had  hitherto  practised  on  fancied  topics  of 
declamation  were  more  usefully  applied  to  excite  or 
assuage  the  passions  of  an  armed  multitude  :  and, 
although  Julian,  from  his  early  habits  of  conversation 
and  literature,  was  more  familiarly  acquainted  with 
the  beauties  of  the  Greek  language,  he  had  attained 
a  competent  knowledge  of  the  Latin  tongue. ^^  Since 
Julian  was  not  originally  designed  for  the  character 
of  a  legislator  or  a  judge,  it  is  probable  that  the  civil 
jurisprudence  of  the  Romans  had  not  engaged  any 
considerable  share  of  his  attention  :  but  he  derived 
from  his  philosophic  studies  an  inflexible  regard  for 
justice,  tempered  by  a  disposition  to  clemency  ;  the 
knowledge    of  the  general    principles  of  equity  and 

S8  The  private  life  of  Julian  in  Gaul,  and  the  severe  discipline 
which  he  embraced,  are  displayed  by  Ammianus  (xvi.  5),  v/ho 
professes  to  praise,  and  by  Julian  himself,  who  affects  to  ridicule 
(Misopogon,  p.  340),  a  conduct  which,  in  a  prince  of  the  houst: 
of  Constantine,  might  justly  excue  the  surprise  of  mankind. 

37  Aderat  Latine  quoque  disserenti  sufficiens  sermo.  Am- 
mianus, xvi.  5.  But  Julian,  educated  in  the  schools  of  Greece 
always  considered  the  language  of  the  Romans  as  a  foreign  au-i 
popular  dialect,  which  he  might  use  on  necessary  occasions. 


312  THE   DECLINE   AND    FALL  a.p. 

evidence;  and  the  faculty  of  patiently  investig-atinc: 
the  most  intricate  and  tedious  questions  which  could 
he  proposed  for  his  discussion.  The  measures  of  policy 
and  the  operations  of  war  must  suhmit  to  the  various 
accidents  of  circumstance  and  character,  and  the  un- 
practised student  will  often  he  perplexed  in  the 
application  of  the  most  perfect  theory.  But  in  the 
acquisition  of  this  important  science,  Julian  was 
assisted  hy  the  active  vieour  of  his  own  genius,  as 
well  as  by  the  wisdom  and  experience  of  Sallust,  an 
officer  of  rank,  who  soon  conceived  a  sincere  attach- 
ment for  a  prince  so  worthy  of  his  friendship  ;  and 
whose  incorruptible  integrity  was  adorned  by  the  talent 
of  insinuating-  the  harshest  truths  without  wounding- 
the  delicacy  of  a  royal  ear.^^ 

Immediately  after  Julian  had  received  the  purple 
at  Milan,  he  was  sent  iTito  Gaul,  with  a  feeble  retinue 
of  three  hundred  avid  sixty  soldiers.  At  Vienna,  where 
he  passed  a  painful  and  anxious  winter,  in  the  hands 
of  those  ministers  to  whom  Constant! us  had  entrusted 
the  direction  of  his  conduct,  the  Csesar  was  informed 
of  the  sieg-e  and  deliverance  of  Autun,  That  larg-e 
and  ancient  city,  protected  only  by  a  ruined  wall  and 
pusillanimous  garrison,  was  saved  by  the  generous 
resolution  of  a  few  veterans,  who  resumed  their  arms 
for  the  defence  of  their  country.  In  his  march  from 
Autun  through  the  heart  of  the  Gallic  provinces, 
Julian  embraced  with  ardour  the  earliest  opportunity 
of  signalising  bis  courage.  At  the  head  of  a  small 
body  of  archers  and  heavy  cavalry,  he  preferred  the 
shorter  but  the  more  dangerous  of  two  roads  ;  and 
sometimes  eludina:,  and  sometimes  resisting,  the  attacks 
of  the  Barbarians,  who  were  masters  of  the  held,  he 
arrived    with    honour    and    safety    at   the    camp   near 

88  We  are  ig^norant  of  the  actual  office  of  this  excellent  minister, 
whom  Julian  afterwards  created  praefect  of  Gaul.  Sallust  was 
speeHily  recalled  by  the  jealousy  of  the  emperor;  and  we  may 
still  read  a  sensible  but  pedantic  discourse  (pp.  240-252),  in 
which  Julian  deplores  the  loss  of  so  valuable  a  friend,  to  whom 
he  acknowledges  himself  indebted  for  his  reputation. 


356  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  813 

Rheims,  where  the  Roman  troops  had  been  ordered 
to  assemble.  The  aspect  of  their  young  prince  revived 
the  drooping  spirit  of  the  soldiers,  and  they  marched 
from  Rheims  in  search  of  the  enemy,  with  a  confidence 
which  had  almost  proved  fatal  to  them.  The  Alemanni, 
familiarised  to  the  knowledge  of  the  country,  secretly 
collected  their  scattered  forces  and,  seizing  the  oppor- 
tunity of  a  dark  and  rainy  day,  poured  with  unexpected 
fury  on  the  rear-guard  of  the  Romans.  Before  the 
inevitable  disorder  could  be  remedied  two  legions  were 
destroyed  ;  and  Julian  was  taught  by  experience  that 
caution  and  vigilance  are  the  most  important  lessons 
of  the  art  of  war.  In  a  second  and  more  successful 
action,  he  recovered  and  established  his  military  fame  : 
but,  as  the  agility  of  the  Barbarians  saved  them  from 
the  pursuit,  his  victory  was  neither  bloody  nor  decisive. 
He  advanced,  however,  to  the  banks  of  the  Rhine, 
surveyed  the  ruins  of  Cologne,  convinced  himself  of 
the  difficulties  of  the  war,  and  retreated  on  the  ap- 
proach of  winter,  discontented  with  the  court,  with 
his  army,  and  with  his  own  success.^^  The  power  of 
the  enemy  was  yet  unbroken  ;  and  the  Caesar  had  no 
sooner  separated  his  troops,  and  fixed  his  own  quarters 
at  Sens,  in  the  centre  of  Gaul,  than  he  was  surrounded 
and  besieged  by  a  numerous  host  of  Germans.  Reduced 
in  this  extremity  to  the  resources  of  his  own  mind,  he 
displayed  a  prudent  intrepidity  which  compensated  for 
all  the  deficiencies  of  the  place  and  garrison  ;  and  the 
Barbarians,  at  the  end  of  thirty  days,  were  obliged  to 
retire  with  disappointed  rage. 

The  conscious  pride  of  Julian,  who  was  indebted 
only  to  his  sword  for  this  signal  deliverance,  was  em- 
bittered by  the  reflection  that  he  was  abandoned,  be- 
trayed, and  perhaps  devoted  to  destruction,  by  those 
who  were  bound  to  assist  him  by  every  tie  of  honour 
and  fidelity.     Marcellus,  master-general  of  the  cavalry 

39  Ammianus  (xvi.  2,  3)  appears  much  better  satisfied  with 
the  success  of  his  first  campaign  than  Juhan  himself;  who  very 
fairly  owns  that  he  did  nothing  of  consequence,  and  that  he 
fled  before  the  enemy. 


314  IHP:   decline   and   fall  A.D. 

in  Gaulj  interpreting  too  strictly  the  jealous  order*  of 
the  court,  beheld  with  supine  indifference  the  distress 
of  Julian,  and  had  restrained  the  troops  under  his 
command  from  marching  to  tlie  relief  of  Sens.  If  the 
Cwsar  had  dissembled  in  silence  so  dangerous  an  insult, 
his  person  and  authority  would  have  been  exposed  to 
the  contempt  of  the  world  ;  and,  if  an  action  so  criminal 
had  been  suffered  to  pass  with  impunity,  the  emperor 
would  have  confirmed  the  suspicions  which  received  a 
very  specious  colour  from  his  past  conduct  towards  the 
princes  of  the  Flavian  family,  Marcellus  was  recalled, 
and  srently  dismissed  from  his  office.^  In  his  room 
Severus  was  appointed  general  of  the  cavalry ;  an 
experienced  soldier,  of  approved  courage  and  fidelity, 
who  could  advise  with  respect  and  execute  with  zeal ; 
and  who  submitted,  without  reluctance,  to  the  supreme 
command  which  Julian,  by  the  interest  of  his  patroness 
Eusebia,  at  length  obtained  over  the  armies  of  Gaul 
A  very  judicious  plan  of  operations  was  adopted  for 
the  approaching  campaign.  Julian  himself,  at  the  head 
of  the  remains  of  the  veteran  bands,  and  of  some  new 
levies  which  he  had  been  permitted  to  form,  boldly 
penetrated  into  the  centre  of  the  German  cantonments 
and  carefully  re-established  the  fortifications  of  Saverne 
in  an  advantageous  post,  which  would  either  check  the 
incursions,  or  intercept  the  retreat,  of  the  enemy.  At 
the  same  time  Barbatio,  general  of  the  infantry,  ad- 
vanced from  Milan  with  an  army  of  thirty  thousand  men, 
and  passing  the  mountains  prepared  to  throw  a  bridge 
over  the  Rhine,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Basil.  It 
was  reasonable  to  expect  that  the  Alemanni,  pressed 
on  either  side  by  the  Roman  arms,  would  soon  be 
forced  to  evacuate  the  provinces  of  Gaul,  and  to  hasten 
to  the  defence  of  their  native  country.  But  the  hopes 
of  the  campaign  were  defeated  by  the  incapacity,  or 

4^  Ammian.  xvi.  7,  Libanius  speaks  rather  more  advan- 
tageously of  the  military  talents  of  Marcellus,  Orat.  x.  p.  272. 
And  Julian  insinuates  that  he  would  not  have  been  so  easily 
recalled,  unless  he  had  given  other  reasons  of  offence  to  the 
court,  p.  278. 


I 


357  OF  THE    ROMAN   EMPIRE  316 

the  envy,  or  the  secret  instructions,  of  Barbatio  ;  who 
acted  as  if  he  had  been  the  enemy  of  the  Csesar  and 
the  secret  ally  of  the  Barbarians.  The  neg^lig-ence  with 
which  he  permitted  a  troop  of  pillaffers  freely  to  pass, 
and  to  return  almost  before  the  gates  of  his  camp, 
may  be  imputed  to  his  want  of  abilities  ;  but  the  treason- 
able act  of  burning"  a  number  of  boats,  and  a  super- 
fluous stock  of  provisions,  which  would  have  been  of 
the  most  essential  service  to  the  army  of  Gaul,  was 
an  evidence  of  his  hostile  and  criminal  intentions. 
'J'he  Germans  despised  an  enemy  who  appeared 
destitute  either  of  power  or  of  inclination  to  offend 
them  ;  and  the  ignominious  retreat  of  Barbatio  de- 
prived Julian  of  the  expected  support,  and  left  him 
to  extricate  himself  from  a  hazardous  situation,  where 
he  could  neither  remain  with  safety  nor  retire  with 
honour. 

As  soon  as  they  were  delivered  from  the  fears  of 
invasion,  the  Alemanni  prepared  to  chastise  the  Roman 
youth,  who  presumed  to  dispute  the  possession  of  that 
country  which  they  claimed  as  their  own  by  the  right 
of  conquest  and  of  treaties.  They  employed  three 
days  and  as  many  nights  in  transporting  over  the 
Rhine  their  military  powers.  The  fierce  Chnodomar, 
shaking  the  ponderous  javelin,  which  he  had  victoriously 
wielded  against  the  brother  of  Magnentius,  led  the  van 
of  the  Barbarians,  and  moderated  by  his  experience 
the  martial  ardour  which  his  example  inspired.  He 
was  followed  by  six  other  kings,  by  ten  princes  of  regal 
extraction,  by  a  long  train  of  high-spirited  nobles,  and 
by  thirty-five  thousand  of  the  bravest  warriors  of  the 
tribes  of  Germany.  The  confidence  derived  from  the 
view  of  their  own  strength  was  increased  by  the  in- 
telligence which  they  received  from  a  deserter,  that 
the  Csesar,  with  a  feeble  army  of  thirteen  thousand 
men.  occupied  a  post  about  one-and-twenty  miles  from 
their  camp  of  Strasburg.  With  this  inadequate  force, 
Julian  resolved  to  seek  and  to  encounter  the  Barbarian 
host ;  and  the  chance  of  a  general  action  was  preferred 
to  the  tedious  and   uncertain  operation  of  separately 


316  THE    DECLINE   AND    FALL  a.u. 

engaging-  the  dispersed  parties  of  the  Alemanni.  The 
Romans  marched  in  close  order^  and  in  two  column^, 
the  cavalry  on  the  right,  the  infantry  on  the  left ;  and 
the  day  was  so  far  spent  when  they  appeared  in  sight 
of  the  enemy,  that  Julian  was  desirous  of  deferring  the 
battle  till  the  next  morning,  and  of  allowing  his  troops 
to  recruit  their  exhausted  strength  by  the  necessary 
refreshments  of  sleep  and  food.  Yielding,  however, 
with  some  reluctance  to  the  clamours  of  the  soldiers, 
and  even  to  the  opinion  of  his  council,  he  exhorted 
them  to  justify  by  their  valour  the  eager  impatience, 
which,  in  case  of  a  defeat,  would  be  universally  branded 
with  the  epithets  of  rashness  and  presumption.  Tlie 
trumpets  sounded,  the  military  shout  was  heard  through 
the  field,  and  the  two  armies  rushed  with  equal  fury  to 
the  charge.  The  Caesar,  who  conducted  in  person  his 
right  wing,  depended  on  the  dexterity  of  his  archers, 
and  the  weight  of  his  cuirassiers.  But  his  ranks  were 
instantly  broken  by  an  irregular  mixture  of  light-horse 
and  of  light-infantry,  and  he  had  the  mortification  of 
beholding  the  flight  of  six  hundred  of  his  most  re- 
nowned cuirassiers.^^  The  fugitives  were  stopped  and 
rallied  by  the  presence  and  authority  of  Julian,  who, 
<areless  of  his  owu  safety,  threw  himself  before  them, 
and,  urging  every  motive  of  shame  and  honour,  led 
them  back  against  the  victorious  enemy.  The  conflict 
between  the  two  lines  of  infantry  was  obstinate  and 
bloody.  The  Germans  possessed  the  superiority  of 
strength  and  stature,  the  Romans  that  of  discipline  and 
temper  ;  and,  as  the  Barbarians  who  served  under  tlie 
standard  of  the  empire  united  the  respective  advantages 
of  both  parties,  their  strenuous  etforts,  guided  by  a 
skilful  leader,  at  length  determined  the  event  of  the 
rlay.  The  Romans  lost  four  tribunes,  and  two  hundred 
and  forty-three  soldiers,  in  this  memorable  battle  of 

*i  After  the  battle,  Julian  ventured  to  revive  the  rigour  of 
ancient  discipline  by  exposing  these  fugitives  in  female  appnrel 
to  the  derision  of  the  whole  camp.  In  the  next  campaign,  th<  se 
troops  nobly  retrieved  their  honour. 


357  OF   THE   ROMAN    EMPIRE  317 

Strasburof,  so  g-lorioiis  to  the  Caesar /^  and  so  salutary 
to  the  afflicted  provinces  of  Gaul.  Six  thousand  of  the 
Alemaniii  were  slain  in  tlie  field,  without  including 
those  who  were  drowned  in  the  Rliine  or  transfixed  with 
darts  whilst  they  attempted  to  swim  across  the  river. ^^ 
Chnodomar  himself  was  surrounded  and  taken  prisoner, 
with  three  of  his  brave  companions,  who  had  devoted 
themselves  to  follow  in  life  or  death  the  fate  of  their 
chieftain.  Julian  received  him  with  military  pomp  in 
the  council  of  his  officers  ;  and,  expressing  a  generous 
pity  for  the  fallen  state,  dissembled  his  inward  con- 
tempt for  the  abject  humiliation,  of  his  captive.  Instead 
of  exhibiting  the  vanquished  king  of  the  Alemanni,  as 
a  iirateful  spectacle  to  the  cities  oif  Gaul,  he  respectfully 
hiid  at  the  feet  of  the  emperor  this  splendid  trophy  of 
his  victory.  Chnodomar  experienced  an  honourable 
treatment  :  but  the  im])atient  Barbarian  could  not 
long  survive  his  defeat,  his  confinement,  and  his 
exile. 

After  Julian  had  repulsed  the  Alemanni  from  the 
provinces  of  the  Upper  Rhine,  he  turned  his  arms 
against  the  Franks,  who  were  seated  nearer  to  the 
ocean  on  the  confines  of  Gaul  and  Germany,  and  who, 
from  their  numbers,  and  still  more  from  their  intrepid 
valour,  had  ever  been  esteemed  the  most  formidable 

^-  Julian  himself  (ad.  S.  P.  Q.  Athen.  p.  279)  speaks  of  the 
battle  of  Strasburg  with  the  modesty  of  conscious  merit  ; 
ifj.axfo-(i,ur]v  ovk  d/cAews.  t'crwy  Kal  els  v/J.as  d<piK€TO  tj  TOLaimj 
fxaxv-  Zosimus  compares  it  with  the  victory  of  Alexander  over 
Darius  ;  and  yet  we  are  at  a  loss  to  discover  any  of  those  strokes 
of  military  genius  which  tix  the  attention  of  ages  on  the  conduct 
and  success  of  a  single  day. 

■^3  Libanius  adds  2000  more  to  the  number  of  the  slain 
(Orat.  X.  p.  274I  But  these  trifling  differences  disappear  before 
the  60,000  Barbarians  whom  Zosimus  has  sacrificed  to  the 
glory  of  his  hero  (1.  iii.  p.  141  \  We  might  attribute  this  ex- 
travagant number  to  the  carelessness  of  transcribers,  if  this 
credulous  or  partial  historian  had  not  swelled  the  army  of  35,000 
Alemanni  to  an  innumerable  multitude  of  Barbarians,  ttXtjOos 
diretpov  /Sap/Sdpwi'.  It  is  our  own  fault  if  this  detection  docs  not 
inspire  us  with  proper  distrust  on  similar  occasions. 


318  THE   DECLINE   AND    FALL  a.i>. 

of  the  Barbariaus.  Although  they  were  stroujily 
actuated  by  the  allurements  of  rapine,  they  professed 
a  disinterested  love  of  war,  which  they  considered  ;i^ 
the  supreme  honour  and  felicity  of  human  nature  ; 
and  their  minds  and  bodies  were  so  completely  hardene'i 
by  perpetual  action  that,  according  to  the  lively  ex- 
pression of  an  orator,  the  snows  of  winter  were  as 
pleasant  to  them  as  the  flowers  of  spring.  In  the 
month  of  December,  which  followed  the  battle  of 
Strasburg,  Julian  attacked  a  body  of  six  hundred 
Franks,  who  had  thrown  themselves  into  two  castles 
on  the  Meuse.  **■*  In  the  midst  of  that  severe  season 
they  sustained,  with  inflexible  constancy,  a  siege  of 
fifty-four  days  ;  till  at  length,  exhausted  by  hunger, 
and  satisfied  that  the  vigilance  of  the  enemy  in  break- 
ing the  ice  of  the  river  left  them  no  hopes  of  escape, 
the  Franks  consented,  for  the  first  time,  to  dispense 
with  the  ancient  law  which  commanded  them  to 
conquer  or  to  die.  The  C-aesar  immediately  sent  his 
captives  to  the  court  of  Constantius,  who,  accepting 
them  as  a  valuable  present,  rejoiced  in  the  opportunity 
of  adding  so  many  heroes  to  the  choicest  troops  of  his 
domestic  guards.  Ihe  obstinate  resistance  of  this 
handful  of  Franks  apprised  Julian  of  the  diflficulties 
of  the  expedition  which  he  meditated  for  the  ensuing 
spring  aii^ainst  the  whole  body  of  the  nation.  His 
rapid  diligence  surprised  and  astonished  tlie  active 
Barbarians.  Ordering  his  soldiers  to  provide  them- 
selves with  biscuit  for  twenty  days,  he  suddenly 
pitched  his  camp  near  Tongres,  while  the  enemy  still 
supposed  him  in  his  winter  quarters  of  Paris,  expect- 
ing tlie  slow  arrival  of  his  convoys  from  Aquitain. 
Without  allowing  the  Franks  to  unite  or  to  deliberate, 
he  skilfully  spread  his  legions  from  Cologne  to  the 
ocean  ;  and  by  the  terror  as  well  as  by  the  success  of 

**  The  Greek  orator,  by  misapprehending  a  passage  of  Julian, 
has  been  induced  to  represent  the  Franks  as  consisting  of  a 
thousand  men  ;  and,  as  his  head  was  alw  ays  full  of  the  Pelopon- 
nesian  war.  he  compares  them  to  the  L^acedaemonians,  who 
were  besieged  and  taken  in  the  island  of  Sphacteria. 


868  OF   THE    ROiMAN   EMPIRE  319 

his  arms  soon  reduced  the  suppliant  tribes  to  implore 
the  clemency,  and  to  obey  the  commands,  of  their 
conqueror.  The  Chamavians  submissively  retired  to 
their  former  habitations  beyond  the  Rhine  :  but  the 
Salians  were  permitted  to  possess  their  new  establish- 
ment of  Toxandria,  as  the  subjects  and  auxiliaries  of 
the  Roman  Empire.  The  treaty  was  ratified  by  solemn 
oaths  ;  and  perpetual  inspectors  were  appointed  to 
reside  among-  the  Franks,  with  the  authority  of  en- 
forcing the  strict  observance  of  the  conditions.  An 
incident  is  related,  interesting  enough  in  itself,  and 
by  no  means  repugnant  to  the  character  of  Julian, 
who  ingeniously  contrived  both  the  plot  and  tiie 
catastrophe  of  the  tragedy.  When  the  Chamavians 
sued  for  peace,  he  required  the  son  of  their  king,  as 
the  only  hostage  on  whom  he  could  rely.  A  mournful 
silence,  interrupted  by  tears  and  groans,  declared  the 
sad  perplexity  of  the  Barbarians  ;  and  their  aged  chief 
lamented  in  pathetic  language  that  his  private  loss 
was  now  embittered  by  a  sense  of  the  public  calamity. 
While  the  Chamavians  lay  prostrate  at  the  foot  of  his 
throne,  the  royal  captive,  whom  they  believed  to  have 
been  slain,  unexpectedly  appeared  before  their  eyes  ; 
and,  as  soon  as  the  tumult  of  Joy  was  hushed  into 
attention,  the  Caesar  addressed  the  assembly  in  the 
following  terms  :  ''  Behold  the  son,  the  prince,  whom 
you  wept.  You  had  lost  him  by  your  fault,  God  and 
the  Romans  have  restored  him  to  you.  I  shall  still 
preserve  and  educate  the  youth,  ratliei'  as  a  monument 
of  my  own  virtue  than  as  a  pledge  of  your  sincerity. 
Should  you  presume  to  violate  the  faith  which  you 
have  sworn,  the  arms  of  the  republic  will  avenge  the 
perfidy,  not  on  the  innocent,  but  on  the  guilty,"  The 
Barbarians  withdrew  from  his  presence,  impressed 
with  the  warmest  sentiments  of  gratitude  and  ad- 
miration. 

It  was  not  enough  for  Julian  to  have  delivered  the 
provinces  of  Gaul  from  the  Barbarians  of  Germany 
He  aspired  to  emulate  the  glory  of  the  first  and  most 
illustrious  of  the  emperors  ;  after  whose   example  Me 


320  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

composed  his  own  commentaries  of  the  Gallic  war.*^ 
Caesar  has  related,  with  conscious  pride,  the  manner 
in  which  he  tmce  passed  the  Rhine.  Julian  could 
boast  that,  before  he  assumed  the  title  of  Augustus, 
he  had  carried  the  Roman  Eag:les  beyond  that  great 
river  in  three  successful  expeditions.  The  consterna- 
tion of  the  Germans,  after  the  battle  of  Strashurg, 
encouraged  him  to  the  first  attempt ;  and  the  reluc- 
tance of  the  troops  soon  yielded  to  the  persuasive 
eloquence  of  a  leader  who  shared  the  fatigues  and 
dangers  which  he  imposed  on  the  meanest  of  the 
soldiers.  The  villages  on  either  side  of  the  Main, 
which  were  plentifully  stored  with  corn  and  cattle, 
felt  the  ravages  of  an  invading  army.  The  principal 
houses  constructed  with  some  imitation  of  Roman 
elesrance,  were  consumed  by  the  flames  ;  and  the 
Caisar  boldly  advanced  about  ten  miles,  till  his  pro- 
gress was  stopped  by  a  dark  and  impenetrable  forest,  un- 
dermined by  subterraneous  passages,  which  threatened, 
with  secret  snares  and  ambush,  every  step  of  the 
assailant.  The  ground  was  already  covered  with  snow  ; 
and  Julian,  after  repairing  an  ancient  castle  which 
had  been  erected  by  Trajan,  granted  a  truce  of  ten 
months  to  the  submissive  Barbarians.  At  the  expira- 
tion of  the  truce,  Julian  undertook  a  second  expedition 
beyond  the  Rhine,  to  humble  the  pride  of  Surmar  and 
Ilortaire,  two  of  the  kings  of  the  Alemanni,  who  had 
been  present  at  the  battle  of  Strasburg.  Tliey  promised 
to  restore  all  the  Roman  captives  who  yet  remained 
alive  ;  and,  as  the  Cjesar  had  procured  an  exact  account 
from  the  cities  and  villages  of  Gaul,  of  the  inhabitants 
whom  they  had  lost,  he  detected  every  attempt  to 
deceive  him  with  n   degree  of  readiness  and  accuracy 

■»*  Libanius,  the  friend  of  Julian,  clearly  insinuates  (Oral,  iv. 
p.  178)  that  his  hero  had  composed  the  history  of  his  Gallic 
campaigns.  But  Zosimus  (1.  iii.  p.  140)  seems  to  have  derived 
his  information  only  from  the  Orations  {X6701)  and  the  Epistles 
of  Julian.  The  discourse  which  is  addressed  to  the  Athenians 
contains  an  accurate,  though  general,  account  of  the  war  against 
the  Germans. 


357-359       OF   THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  821 

which  almost  established  the  belief  of  his  supernatural 
knowledge.  His  third  expedition  was  still  more 
splendid  and  important  than  the  two  former.  The 
Germans  had  collected  their  military  powers,  and 
moved  along  the  opposite  banks  of  the  river,  with  a 
design  of  destroying  the  bridge  and  of  preventing  the 
passage  of  the  Romans.  But  this  judicious  plan  of 
defence  was  disconcerted  by  a  skilful  diversion.  Three 
hundred  light-armed  and  active  soldiers  were  detached 
in  forty  small  boats,  to  fall  down  the  stream  in  silence, 
and  to  land  at  some  distance  from  the  posts  of  the 
enemy.  They  executed  their  orders  with  so  much 
boldness  and  celerity  that  they  had  almost  surprised 
the  Barbarian  chiefs,  who  returned  in  the  fearless 
confidence  of  intoxication  from  one  of  their  nocturnal 
festivals.  Without  repeating  the  uniform  and  disgust- 
ing tale  of  slaughter  and  devastation,  it  is  sufficient  to 
observe  that  Julian  dictated  his  own  conditions  of  peace 
to  six  of  the  haughtiest  kings  of  the  Alemanni,  three 
of  whom  were  permitted  to  view  the  severe  discipline 
and  martial  pomp  of  a  Roman  camp.  Followed  by 
twenty  thousand  captives,  whom  he  had  rescued  from 
the  chains  of  the  Barbarians,  the  Csesar  repassed  the 
Rhine,  after  terminating  a  war,  the  success  of  which 
has  been  compared  to  the  ancient  glories  of  the  Punic 
and  Cimbric  victories. 

As  soon  as  the  valour  and  conduct  of  Julian  had 
secured  an  interval  of  peace,  he  applied  himself  to 
a  work  more  congenial  to  his  humane  and  philosophic 
temper.  The  cities  of  Gaul,  which  had  suffered  from 
the  inroads  of  the  Barbarians,  he  diligently  repaired  ; 
and  seven  important  posts,  between  Mainz  and  the 
mouth  of  the  Rhine,  are  particularly  mentioned,  as 
having  been  rebuilt  and  fortified  by  the  order  of 
Julian.*^      The    vanquished    Germans    had    submitted 

46  Of  these  seven  posts,  foiu-  are  at  present  towns  of  some  con- 
sequence ;  Bingen,  Andernach,  Bonn,  and  Neuss.  The  other 
three,  Tricesimas,  Quadriburgium ,  and  Castra  Herculis,  or 
Heraclea,  no  longer  subsist ;  but  there  is  i-oom  to  believe  that, 

VOL.   JI. 

L 


322  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

to  the  just  but  humiliating  condition  of  preparing 
and  conveying  the  necessary  materials.  The  active 
zeal  of  Julian  urged  the  prosecution  of  the  work  ;  and 
such  was  the  spirit  which  he  had  diffused  among  the 
troops  that  the  auxiliaries  themselves^  waving  their 
exemption  from  any  duties  of  fatigue^,  contended  in 
the  most  servile  labours  with  the  diligence  of  the 
Roman  soldiers.  It  was  incumbent  on  the  Caesar  to 
provide  for  the  subsistence,  as  well  as  for  the  safety, 
of  the  inhabitants  and  of  the  garrisons.  The  desertion 
of  the  former,  and  the  mutiny  of  the  latter,  must  have 
been  the  fatal  and  inevitable  consequences  of  famine, 
^rhe  tillage  of  the  provinces  of  Gaul  had  been  inter- 
rupted by  the  calamities  of  war ;  but  the  scanty 
harvests  of  the  continent  were  supplied,  by  his 
paternal  care,  from  the  plenty  of  the  adjacent  island. 
Six  hundred  large  barks,  framed  in  the  forest  of  the 
Ardennes,  made  several  voyages  to  the  coast  of  Britain  ; 
and,  returning  from  thence  laden  with  corn,  sailed  up 
the  Rhine,  and  distributed  their  cargoes  to  the  several 
towns  and  fortresses  along  the  banks  of  the  river.*'' 
The  arms  of  Julian  had  restored  a  free  and  secure 
navigation,  which  Constantius  had  offered  to  purchase 
at  the  expense  of  his  dignity,  and  of  a  tributary  present 
of  two  thousand  pounds  of  silver.  The  emperor  parsi- 
moniously refused  to  his  soldiers  the  sums  which  he 
granted  with  a  lavish  and  trembling  hand  to  the 
Barbarians.  The  dexterity,  as  well  as  the  firmness, 
of  Julian  was  put  to  a  severe  trial,  when  he  took  the 
field  with  a  discontented  army,    which   had   already 

on  the  ground  of  Quadriburgium,  the  Dutch  have  constructed 
the  fort  of  Schenk,  a  name  so  offensive  to  the  fastidious  delicacy 
of  Boileau. 

•^"^  We  may  credit  Julian  himself,  Orat.  ad.  S.  P.  Q.  Athenien- 
sem,  p.  280,  who  gives  a  very  particular  account  of  the  transac- 
tion. Zosimus  adds  two  hundred  vessels  more,  I.  iii.  p.  145. 
If  we  compute  the  600  corn  ships  of  Julian  at  only  seventy  tons 
each,  they  were  capable  of  exporting  120,000  quarters  (see 
Arbuthnot's  Weights  and  Measures,  p.  237) ;  and  the  country 
which  could  bear  so  large  an  exportation  must  akeady  have 
attained  an  improved  state  of  agriculture. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   ExMPJRE  323 

served  two  campaig^ns  without  receiving  any  regular 
pay  or  any  extraordinary  donative.*^ 

A  tender  regard  for  the  peace  and  happiness  of  his 
subjects  was  the  ruling  principle  which  directed,  or 
seemed  to  direct,  the  administration  of  Julian.  He 
devoted  the  leisure  of  his  winter  quarters  to  the  offices 
of  civil  government,  and  affected  to  assume  with  more 
pleasure  the  character  of  a  magistrate  than  that  of  a 
general.  Before  he  took  the  field,  he  devolved  on 
the  provincial  governors  most  of  the  public  and  private 
causes  which  had  been  referred  to  his  tribunal ;  but, 
on  his  return,  he  carefully  revised  their  proceedings, 
mitigated  the  rigour  of  the  law,  and  pronounced  a 
second  judgment  on  the  judges  themselves.  Superior 
to  the  last  temptation  of  virtuous  minds,  an  indiscreet 
and  intemperate  zeal  for  justice,  he  restrained,  with 
calmness  and  dignity,  the  warmth  of  an  advocate 
who  prosecuted,  for  extortion,  the  president  of  the 
Narbonnese  province.  "  Who  will  ever  be  found 
guilty,"  exclaimed  the  vehement  Delphidius,  "if  it 
be  enough  to  deny?"  "And  who,^'  replied  Julian, 
''will  ever  be  innocent,  if  it  be  sufficient  to  affirm?" 
In  the  general  administration  of  peace  and  war,  the 
interest  of  the  sovereign  is  commonly  the  same  as  that 
of  his  people  ;  but  Coustantius  would  have  thought 
himself  deeply  injured,  if  the  virtues  of  Julian  had 
defrauded  him  of  any  part  of  the  tribute  which  he 
extorted  from  an  oppressed  and  exhausted  country. 
The  prince,  who  was  invested  with  the  ensigns  of 
royalty,  might  sometimes  presume  to  correct  the 
rapacious  insolence  of  the  inferior  agents,  to  expose 
their  corrupt  arts,  and  to  introduce  an  equal  and 
easier  mode  of  collection.  But  the  management  of 
the  finances  was  more  safely  entrusted  to  Florentius, 
Praetorian  prefect  of  Gaul,  an  effeminate  tyrant,  in- 
capable of  pity  or  remorse  ;  and  the  haughty  minister 
complained  of  the  most  decent  and  gentle  opposition, 
while  Julian  himself  was  rather  inclined  to  censure 

"^  The  troops  once  broke  out  into  a  mutiny,  immediately 
before  the  second  passage  of  the  Rhine. 


324  THE  DECLINE  AND  FALL 

the  weakness  of  liis  own  behaviour.  The  Caesar  had 
rejected  with  abhorrence  a  mandate  for  the  levy  of 
an  extraordinary  tax  ;  a  new  superindiction,  which 
the  praefect  had  offered  for  his  sig-nature  ;  and  the 
faithful  picture  of  the  public  misery,  by  which  he 
had  been  obliged  to  justify  his  refusal,  offended  the 
court  of  Constantius.  We  may  enjoy  the  pleasure  of 
reading  the  sentiments  of  Julian,  as  he  expresses  them 
with  warmth  and  freedom  in  a  letter  to  one  of  his 
most  intimate  friends.  After  stating  his  own  conduct, 
he  proceeds  in  the  following  terms  :  *^^  Was  it  possible 
for  the  disciple  of  Plato  and  Aristotle  to  act  otherwise 
than  I  have  done  ?  Could  I  abandon  the  unhappy 
subjects  entrusted  to  my  care.'*  Was  I  not  called 
upon  to  defend  them  from  the  repeated  injuries  of 
these  unfeeling  robbers.''  A  tribune  who  deserts  his 
post  is  punished  with  death  and  deprived  of  the 
honours  of  burial.  With  what  justice  could  1  pro- 
nounce his  sentence,  if,  in  the  hour  of  danger,  I 
myself  neglected  a  duty  far  more  sacred  and  far  more 
important.''  God  has  placed  me  in  this  elevated  post; 
his  providence  will  guard  and  support  me.  Should  I 
be  condemned  to  suffer,  1  shall  derive  comfort  from 
the  testimony  of  a  pure  and  upright  conscience. 
Would  to  heaven  that  I  still  possessed  a  councillor 
like  Sallust  !  If  they  think  proper  to  send  me  a 
successor,  I  shall  submit  without  reluctance ;  and  had 
much  rather  improve  the  short  opportunity  of  doing 
good  than  enjoy  a  long  and  lasting  impunity  of  evil." 
The  precarious  and  dependent  situation  of  Julian  dis- 
played his  virtues  and  concealed  his  defects.  The 
young  hero  who  supported,  in  Gaul,  the  throne  of 
Constantius  was  not  permitted  to  reform  the  vices  of 
the  government  ;  but  he  had  courage  to  alleviate  or 
to  pity  the  distress  of  the  people.  Unless  he  had 
been  able  to  revive  the  martial  spirit  of  the  Romans, 
or  to  introduce  the  arts  of  industry  and  refinement 
among  their  savage  enemies,  he  could  not  entertain 
any  rational  hopes  of  securing  the  public  tranquillity, 
either  by  the  peace  or  conquest  of  Germany.     Yet  the 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  325 

victories  of  Julian  suspended,  for  a  short  time,,  the 
inroads  of  the  Barbarians,  and  delayed  the  ruin  of 
the  W^esteru  Empire. 

His  salutary  influence  restored  the  cities  of  Gaul, 
which  had  been  so  long  exposed  to  the  evils  of  civil 
discord,  barbarian  war,  and  domestic  tyranny ;  and 
the  spirit  of  industry  was  revived  with  the  hopes  of 
enjoyment.  Agriculture,  manufactures,  and  commerce 
again  flourished  under  the  protection  of  the  laws  ;  and 
the  curicE,  or  civil  corporations,  were  again  filled  with 
useful  and  respectable  members  ;  the  youth  were  no 
longer  apprehensive  of  marriage  ;  and  married  persona 
were  no  longer  apprehensive  of  posterity  :  the  public 
and  private  festivals  were  celebrated  with  customary 
pomp  ;  and  the  frequent  and  secure  intercourse  of  the 
provinces  displayed  the  image  of  national  prosperity. 
A  mind  like  that  of  Julian  must  have  felt  the  general 
happiness  of  which  he  was  the  author ;  but  he  viewed 
with  peculiar  satisfaction  and  complacency  the  city 
of  Paris,  the  seat  of  his  winter  residence,  and  the 
object  even  of  his  partial  aff"ection.  That  splendid 
capital,  which  now  embraces  an  ample  territory  on 
either  side  of  the  Seine,  was  originally  confined  to 
the  small  island  in  the  midst  of  the  river,  from  whence 
the  inhabitants  derived  a  supply  of  pure  and  salubrious 
water.  The  river  bathed  the  foot  of  the  walls  ;  and 
the  town  was  accessible  only  by  two  wooden  bridges. 
A  forest  overspread  the  northern  side  of  the  Seine ; 
but  on  the  south,,  the  ground,  which  now  bears  the 
name  of  the  university,  was  insensibly  covered  with 
houses,  and  adorned  with  a  palace  and  amphitheatre, 
baths,  an  aqueduct,  and  a  field  of  Mars  for  the  exercise 
for  the  Roman  troops.  The  severity  of  the  climate 
was  tempered  by  the  neighbourhood  of  the  ocean  ; 
and  with  some  precautions,  which  experience  had 
taught,  the  vine  and  fig-tree  were  successfully  culti- 
vated. But  in  remarkable  winters,  the  Seiije  was 
deeply  frozen  ;  and  the  huge  pieces  of  ice  that  floated 
down  the  stream  might  be  compared,  by  an  Asiatic, 
to  the  blocks  of  white  marble  which  were  extracted 


326  THE   DECLINE   AND    FALL  a.d. 

from  the  quarries  of  Phrygia.  The  licentiousness 
and  corruption  of  Antioch  recalled  to  the  memory  of 
Julian  the  severe  and  simple  manners  of  his  beloved 
Lutetia  ;  *^  where  the  amusements  of  the  theatre  were 
unknown  or  despised.  He  indignantly  contrasted  the 
effeminate  Syrians  with  the  brave  and  honest  simplicity 
of  the  GaulSj  and  almost  forgave  the  intemperance 
which  was  the  only  stain  of  the  Celtic  character.  If 
Julian  could  now  revisit  the  capital  of  France,  he 
might  converse  with  men  of  science  and  genius, 
capable  of  understanding  and  of  instructing  a  disciple 
of  the  Greeks  ;  he  might  excuse  the  lively  and  graceful 
follies  of  a  nation  whose  martial  spirit  has  never  been 
enervated  by  the  indulgence  of  luxury  ;  and  he  must 
applaud  the  perfection  of  that  inestimable  art  which 
softens  and  refines  and  embellishes  the  intercourse 
of  social  life. 

49  T}jP  (pCKrjv  AevKCTiav.  Julian,  in  Misopogon.  p.  340. 
Leucetia,  or  Lutetia,  was  the  ancient  name  of  the  city  which, 
according  to  the  fashion  of  the  fourth  century,  assumed  the 
territorial  appellation  of  Parisii. 


306  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  327 


CHAPTER    XX 

THE  SIOTIVES^  PROGRESS^  AND  EFFECTS  OF  THE  CONVERSION 
OF  CONSTANTINE LEGAL  ESTABLISHMENT  AND  CON- 
STITUTION  OF    THE    CHRISTIAN    OR    CATHOLIC   CHURCH 

The  public  establishment  of  Christianity  may  be  con- 
sidered as  one  of  those  important  and  domestic  revolu- 
tions which  excite  the  most  lively  curiosity  and  afford 
the  most  valuable  instruction.  The  victories  and  the 
civil  policy  of  Constantine  no  longer  influence  the  state 
of  Europe ;  but  a  considerable  portion  of  the  globe 
still  retains  the  impression  which  it  received  from  the 
conversion  of  that  monarch  ;  and  the  ecclesiastical  in- 
stitutions of  his  reign  are  still  connected^  by  an  indis- 
soluble chain,  with  the  opinions,  the  passions,  and  the 
interests  of  the  present  generation. 

In  the  consideration  of  a  subject  which  may  be 
examined  with  impartiality,  but  cannot  be  viewed  with 
indifference,  a  difficulty  immediately  arises  of  a  very 
unexpected  nature ;  that  of  ascertaining  the  real  and 
precise  date  of  the  conversion  of  Constantine.  The 
eloquent  Lactantius,  in  the  midst  of  his  court,  seems 
impatient^  to  proclaim  to  the  world  the  glorious 
example  of  the  sovereign  of  Gaul  ;  who,  in  the  first 
moments  of  his  reign,  acknowledged  and  adored  the 

1  The  date  of  the  Divine  Institutions  of  Lactantius  has  been 
accurately  discussed,  difficulties  have  been  started,  solutions  pro- 
posed, and  an  expedient  imagined  of  two  original  editions  :  the 
former  published  during  the  persecution  of  Diocletian,  the  latter 
under  that  of  Licinius.  For  my  own  part,  I  am  ahnost  con- 
vinced that  Lactantius  dedicated  his  Institutions  to  the  sovereign 
of  Gaul,  at  a  time  when  Galerius,  Maximin,  and  even  Licinius, 
persecuted  the  Christians ;  that  is,  between  the  years  306  and 
311. 


328  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

majesty  of  the  true  and  only  God.^  The  learned 
Eusebius  has  ascribed  the  faith  of  Constantine  to  tlie 
miraculous  sign  which  was  displayed  in  the  heavens 
whilst  he  meditated  and  prepared  the  Italian  expedition. 
The  historian  Zosimus  maliciously  asserts  that  the 
emperor  had  imbraed  his  hands  in  the  blood  of  his 
eldest  son,  before  he  publicly  renounced  the  gods  of 
Rome  and  of  his  ancestors.  The  perplexity  produced 
by  these  discordant  authorities  is  derived  from  the 
behaviour  of  Constantine  himself.  According  to  the 
strictness  of  ecclesiastical  language,  the  first  of  the 
Christian  emperors  was  unworthy  of  that  name,  till  the 
moment  of  his  death  ;  since  it  was  only  during  his  last 
illness  that  he  received,  as  a  catechumen,  the  imposition 
of  hands,^  and  was  afterwards  admitted,  by  the  initiatory 
rites  of  baptism,  into  the  number  of  the  faithful.*  The 
Christianity  of  Constantine  must  be  allowed  in  a  much 
more  vague  and  qualified  sense  ;  and  the  nicest  accuracy 
is  required  in  tracing  the  slow  and  almost  imperceptible 
gradations  by  which  the  monarch  declared  himself  the 
protector,  and  at  length  the  proselyte,  of  the  church. 

2  Lactant.  Divin.  Institut.  i.  i,  vii.  27.  The  first  and  most 
important  of  these  passages  is  indeed  wanting  iu  twenty-eight 
manuscripts  ;  but  it  is  found  in  nineteen.  If  we  weigh  the  com- 
parative value  of  those  manuscripts,  one  of  900  years  old,  in  the 
king  of  France's  library,  may  be  alleged  in  its  favour ;  but  the 
passage  is  omitted  in  the  correct  manuscript  of  Bologna,  which 
the  P.  de  Montfaucon  ascribes  to  the  sixth  or  seventh  century. 
The  taste  of  most  of  the  editors  has  felt  the  genuine  style  of 
Lactantius. 

8  That  rite  was  always  used  in  making  a  catechumen  and  Con- 
stantine received  it  for  the  first  time  immediately  before  his 
baptism  and  death.  From  the  connection  of  these  two  facts, 
Valesius  has  drawn  the  conclusion,  which  is  reluctantly  ad- 
mitted by  Tillemont. 

^  The  legend  of  Constantine's  baptism  at  Rome,  thirteen 
years  before  his  death,  was  invented  in  the  eighth  century,  as  a 
proper  motive  for  his  donation.  Such  has  been  the  gradual 
progress  of  knowledge  that  a  story  of  which  Cardinal  Baron ius 
(Annal.  Ecclesiast.  A.D.  324,  No.  43-49)  declared  hirnself  the 
unblushing  advocate  is  now  feebly  supported,  even  within  the 
verge  of  the  Vatican. 


306-837       OF  THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE  329 

It  was  an  arduous  task  to  eradicate  the  habits  and 
prejudices  of  his  education^  to  acknowledge  the  divine 
power  of  Christ,  and  to  understand  that  the  truth  of 
his  revelation  was  incompatible  with  the  worship  of 
the  g-ods.  The  obstacles  which  he  had  probably  ex- 
perienced in  his  own  mind  instructed  him  to  proceed 
with  caution  in  the  momentous  change  of  a  national 
religion  ;  and  he  insensibly  discovered  his  new  opinions, 
as  far  as  he  could  enforce  them  with  safety  and  with 
effect.  During  the  whole  course  of  his  reign,  the. 
stream  of  Christianity  flowed  with  a  gentle,  though 
accelerated,  motion  :  but  its  general  direction  was 
sometimes  checked,  and  sometimes  diverted,  by  the 
accidental  circumstances  of  the  times,  and  by  the 
prudence,  or  possibly  by  the  caprice,  of  the  monarch. 
His  ministers  were  permitted  to  signify  the  intentions 
of  their  master  in  the  various  language  that  was  best 
adapted  to  their  respective  principles  ;  and  he  artfully 
balanced  the  hopes  and  fears  of  his  subjects  by  publish- 
ing in  the  same  year  two  edicts  ;  the  first  of  which 
enjoined  the  solemn  observance  of  Sunday,^  and  the 
second  directed  the  regular  consultation  of  the 
Aruspices.^  While  this  important  revolution  yet  re- 
mained in  suspense,  the  Christians  and  the  Pagans 
watched  the  conduct  of  their  sovereign  with  the  same 
anxiety,  but  with  very  opposite  sentiments.  The  former 
were  prompted  by  every  motive  of  zeal,  as  well  as 
vanity,  to  exaggerate  the  marks  of  his  favour,  and  the 
evidences  of  his  faith.  The  latter,  till  their  just  ap- 
prehensions were  changed  into  despair  and  resentment, 
attempted  to  conceal  from  the  world,  and  from  them- 
selves, that  the  gods  of  Rome  could  no  longer  reckon 
the  emperor  in  the  number  of  their  votaries.  The 
same  passions  and  prejudices  have  engaged  the  partial 
writers  of  the  times  to  connect  the  public  profession 

»  Constantine  styles  the  Lord's  day  dies  soils,  a  name  which 
could  not  offend  the  ears  of  his  Pagan  subjects, 

•■^  Godefroy,  in  the  character  of  a  commentator,  endeavours 
to  excuse  Constantine ;  but  the  more  zealous  Baronius  cen- 
sures his  profane  conduct  with  truth  and  asperity. 

VOL.  II.  L  2 


330  THE   DECLINE   AND    FALL  a.d. 

of  Christianity  with   the  most  glorious  or  the  most 
ignominious  aera  of  the  reign  of  Constantine. 

Whatever  symptoms  of  Christian  piety  might  tran- 
spire in  the  discourses  or  actions  of  Constantine_,  he 
persevered  till  he  was  near  forty  years  of  age  in  the 
practice  of  the  established  religion ; "  and  the  same 
conduct_,  which  in  the  court  of  Nicomedia  might  be 
imputed  to  his  fear,  could  be  ascribed  only  to  the 
inclination  or  policy  of  the  sovereign  of  Gaul.  His 
liberality  restored  and  enriched  the  temples  of  the 
gods  :  the  medals  which  issued  from  his  Imperial  mint 
are  impressed  with  the  figures  and  attributes  of  Jupiter 
and  Apollo,  of  Mars  and  Hercules  ;  and  his  filial  piety 
increased  the  council  of  Olympus  by  the  solemn 
apotheosis  of  his  father  Constantius.^  But  the  devotion 
of  Constantine  was  mvore  peculiarly  directed  to  the 
genius  of  the  Sun,  the  Apollo  of  Greek  and  Roman 
mythology ;  and  he  was  pleased  to  be  represented  with 
the  symbols  of  the  God  of  Light  and  Poetry.  The 
unerring  shafts  of  that  deity,  the  brightness  of  his 
eyes,  his  laurel  wreath,  immortal  beauty,  and  elegant 
accomplishments,  seem  to  point  him  out  as  the  patron 
of  a  young  hero.  The  altars  of  Apollo  were  crowned 
with  the  votive  ofi^erings  of  Constantine ;  and  the 
credulous  multitude  were  taught  to  believe  that  the 
emperor  was  permitted  to  behold  with  mortal  eyes  tho 
visible  majesty  of  their  tutelar  deity,  and  that,  either 
waking  or  in  a  vision,  he  was  blessed  with  the  auspicious 
omens  of  a  long  and  victorious  reign.  The  Sun  was 
universally  celebrated  as  the  invincible  guide  and 
protector  of  Constantine ;  and  the  Pagans  might 
reasonably  expect  that  the  insulted  god  would  pursue 

7  Theodoret  (1.  i.  c.  i8)  seems  to  insinuate  that  Helena  gave 
her  son  a  Christian  education ;  but  we  may  be  assured,  from 
the  superior  authority  of  Eusebius  (in  Vit.  Constant.  1.  iii.  c.  47), 
that  she  herself  was  indebted  to  Constantine  for  the  knowledge 
of  Christianity. 

8  See  the  medals  of  Constantine  in  Ducange  and  Banduri. 
As  few  cities  had  retained  the  privilege  of  coining,  almost  all 
the  medals  of  that  age  issued  from  the  mint  under  the  sanction 
of  the  Imperial  authority. 


306-312       OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  331 

with  unrelenting  vengeance  the  impiety  of  his  un- 
grateful favourite.^ 

As  long  as  Constantino  exercised  a  limited  sovereignty 
over  the  provinces  of  Gaul,  his  Christian  subjects  were 
protected  by  the  authority,  and  perhaps  by  the  laws, 
of  a  prince  who  wisely  left  to  the  gods  the  care  of 
vindicating  their  own  honour.  If  we  may  credit  the 
assertion  of  Constantine  himself,  he  had  been  an 
indignant  spectator  of  the  savage  cruelties  which  were 
inflicted^  by  the  hands  of  Roman  soldiers,  on  those 
citizens  whose  religion  was  their  only  crime.  ^"^  In 
the  East  and  in  the  West,  he  had  seen  the  different 
etFects  of  severity  and  indulgence ;  and,  as  the  former 
was  rendered  still  more  odious  by  the  example  of 
Galerius,  his  implacable  enemy,  the  latter  was  re- 
commended to  his  imitation  by  the  authority  and 
advice  of  a  dying  father.  The  son  of  Constantius 
immediately  suspended  or  repealed  the  edicts  of  per- 
secution, and  granted  the  free  exercise  of  their 
religious  ceremonies  to  all  those  who  had  already 
professed  themselves  members  of  the  church.  They 
were  soon  encouraged  to  depend  on  the  favour  as 
well  as  on  the  justice  of  their  sovereign,  who  had 
imbibed  a  secret  and  sincere  reverence  for  the  name 
of  Christ  and  for  the  God  of  the  Christians. 

About  five  months  after  the  conquest  of  Italy,  the 
emperor  made  a  solemn  and  authentic  declaration  of 
his  sentiments,  by  the  celebrated  edict  of  Milan,  which 
restored  peace  to  the  Catholic  Church.  In  the  personal 
interview  of  the  two  western  princes,  Constantine, 
by  the  ascendant  of  genius  and  power,  obtained  the 

9  The  panegyric  of  Eumenius  (vii,  inter  Panegyr.  Vet.),  which 
was  pronounced  a  few  months  before  the  Italian  war,  abounds 
with  the  most  unexceptionable  evidence  of  the  Pagan  super- 
stition of  Constantine,  and  of  his  particular  veneration  for  Apolio, 
or  the  Sun  ;   to  which  Julian  alludes. 

10  But  it  might  easily  be  shown  that  the  Greek  translator  has 
improved  the  sense  of  the  Latin  original ;  and  the  aged  emperor 
might  recollect  the  persecution  of  Diocletian  with  a  more  lively 
abhorrence  than  he  had  actually  felt  in  the  days  of  his  youth 
and  Paganism. 


332  THE  DECLINE  AND    FALL  a.d. 

ready  concurrence  of  his  colleague  Licinius  ;  the  union 
of  their  names  and  authority  disarmed  the  fury  of 
Maximin  ;  and_,  after  the  death  of  the  tyrant  of  the 
East,  the  edict  of  Milan  was  received  as  a  general 
and  fundamental  law  of  the  Roman  world.  The 
wisdom  of  the  emperors  provided  for  the  restitution 
of  all  the  civil  and  religious  rights  of  which  the 
Christians  had  been  so  unjustly  deprived.  It  was 
enacted  that  the  places  of  worship,  and  public  lands, 
which  had  been  confiscated,  should  be  restored  to  the 
church,  without  dispute,  without  delay,  and  without 
expense  :  and  this  severe  injunction  was  accompanied 
with  a  gracious  promise  that,  if  any  of  the  purchasers 
had  paid  a  fair  and  adequate  price,  they  should  be 
indemnified  from  the  Imperial  treasury.  The  salutary 
regulations  which  guard  the  future  tranquillity  of  the 
faithful  are  framed  on  the  principles  of  enlarged  and 
equal  toleration ;  and  such  an  equality  must  have 
been  interpreted  by  a  recent  sect  as  an  advantageous 
and  honourable  distinction.  The  two  emperors  pro- 
claim to  the  world  that  they  have  granted  a  free  and 
absolute  power  to  the  Christians,  and  to  all  others, 
of  following  the  religion  which  each  individual  thinks 
proper  to  prefer,  to  wliich  he  has  addicted  his  mind, 
and  which  he  may  deem  the  best  adapted  to  his  own 
use.  They  carefully  explain  every  ambiguous  word, 
remove  every  exception,  and  exact  from  the  governors 
of  the  provinces  a  strict  obedience  to  the  true  and 
simple  meaning  of  an  edict  which  was  designed  to 
establish  and  secure,  without  any  limitation,  the  claims 
of  religious  liberty.  They  condescend  to  assign  two 
weighty  reasons  which  have  induced  them  to  allow 
this  universal  toleration  :  the  humane  intention  of 
consulting  the  peace  and  happiness  of  their  people  ; 
and  the  pious  hope  that,  by  such  a  conduct,  they  shall 
appease  and  propitiate  the  Deity,  whose  seat  is  in  heaven. 
They  gratefully  acknowledge  the  many  signal  proofa 
which  they  have  received  of  the  divine  favour  ;  and 
they  trust  that  the  same  Providence  will  for  ever 
continue  to  protect  the  prosperity  of  the  prince  and 


313  OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  333 

people.  From  these  vague  and  indefinite  expressions 
of  pietYj  three  suppositions  may  be  deduced^  of  a 
different,  but  not  of  an  incompatible,  nature.  The 
mind  of  Constantiue  might  fluctuate  between  the 
Pagan  and  the  Christian  religions.  According  to  the 
loose  and  complying  notions  of  Polytheism,  he  might 
acknowledge  the  God  of  the  Christians  as  one  of  the 
many  deities  who  composed  the  hierarchy  of  heaven. 
Or  perhaps  he  might  embrace  the  philosophic  and 
pleasing  idea  that,  notwithstanding  the  variety  of 
names,  of  rites,  and  of  opinions,  all  the  sects  and  all 
the  nations  of  mankind  are  united  in  the  worship  of 
the  common  Father  and  Creator  of  the  universe. 

But  the  counsels  of  princes  are  more  frequently 
influenced  by  vieAvs  of  temporal  advantage  than  by 
considerations  of  abstract  and  speculative  truth.  ITie 
partial  and  increasing  favour  of  Constantine  may 
naturally  be  referred  to  the  esteem  which  he  enter- 
tained for  the  moral  character  of  the  Christians  ;  and 
to  a  persuasion  that  the  propagation  of  the  gospel 
would  inculcate  the  practice  of  private  and  public 
virtue.  Whatever  latitude  an  absolute  monarch  may 
assume  in  his  own  conduct,  whatever  indulgence  he 
may  claim  for  his  own  passions,  it  is  undoubtedly  his 
interest  that  all  his  subjects  should  respect  the  natural 
and  civil  obligations  of  society.  But  the  operation  of 
the  wisest  laws  is  imperfect  and  precarious.  They 
seldom  inspire  virtue,  they  cannot  always  restrain  vice. 
Their  power  is  insufficient  to  prohibit  all  that  they 
condemn,  nor  can  they  always  punish  the  actions 
which  they  prohibit.  The  legislators  of  antiquity  had 
summoned  to  their  aid  the  powers  of  education  and  of 
opinion.  But  every  principle  which  had  once  main- 
tained the  vigour  and  purity  of  Rome  and  Sparta  was 
long  since  extinguished  in  a  declining  and  despotic 
empire.  Philosophy  still  exercised  her  temperate  sway 
over  the  human  mind,  but  the  cause  of  virtue  derived 
very  feeble  support  from  the  influence  of  the  Pagan 
superstition.  Under  these  discouraging  circumstances, 
a  prudent  magistrate  might  observe  with  pleasure  the 


334  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

progress  of  a  religion,  which  diffused  among  the  people 
a  pure,  benevolent_,  and  universal  system  of  ethics, 
adapted  to  every  duty  and  every  condition  of  life  ; 
recommended  as  the  will  and  reason  of  the  Supreme 
Deity,  and  enforced  by  the  sanction  of  eternal  rewards 
or  punishments.  The  experience  of  Greek  and  Roman 
history  could  not  inform  the  world  how  far  the  system 
of  national  manners  might  be  reformed  and  improved 
by  the  precepts  of  a  divine  revelation  ;  and  Constantine 
might  listen  with  some  confidence  to  the  flattering, 
and  indeed  reasonable,  assurances  of  Lactantius.  The 
eloquent  apologist  seemed  firmly  to  expect,  and  almost 
ventured  to  promise,  that  the  establishment  of  Chris- 
tianity would  restore  the  innocence  and  felicity  of  the 
primitive  age  ;  that  the  worship  of  the  true  God  would 
extinguish  war  and  dissention  among  those  who  mutu- 
ally considered  themselves  as  the  children  of  a  common 
parent ;  that  every  impure  desire,  every  angry  or 
selfish  passion,  would  be  restrained  by  the  knowledge 
of  the  gospel  ;  and  that  the  magistrates  might  sheathe 
the  sword  of  justice  among  a  people  who  would  be 
universally  actuated  by  the  sentiments  of  truth  and 
piety,  of  equity  and  moderation,  of  harmony  and 
universal  love. 

The  passive  and  unresisting  obedience  which  bows 
under  the  yoke  of  authority,  or  even  of  oppression, 
must  have  appeared,  in  the  eyes  of  an  absolute  monarch, 
the  most  conspicuous  and  useful  of  the  evangelic  virtues. 
The  primitive  Christians  derived  the  institution  of 
civil  government,  not  from  the  consent  of  the  people, 
but  from  the  decrees  of  heaven.  The  reigning  emperor, 
though  he  had  usurped  the  sceptre  by  treason  and 
murder,  immediately  assumed  the  sacred  character  of 
vicegerent  of  the  Deity.  To  the  Deity  alone  he  was 
accountable  for  the  abuse  of  his  power  ;  and  his  sub- 
jects were  iudissolubly  bound,  by  their  oath  of  fidelity, 
to  a  tyrant  who  had  violated  every  law  of  nature  and 
society.  The  humble  Christians  were  sent  into  the 
world  as  sheep  among  wolves  ;  and,  since  they  were 
not  permitted  to  employ  force,  even  in  the  defence  of 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  335 

tlieir  religion,  they  should  be  still  more  criminal  if 
they  were  tempted  to  shed  the  blood  of  their  fellow- 
creatures  in  disputing  the  vain  privileges,  or  the 
sordid  possessions,  of  this  transitory  life.  Faithful  to 
the  doctrine  of  the  apostle  who  in  the  reign  of  Nero 
had  preached  the  duty  of  unconditional  submission,  the 
Christians  of  the  three  first  centuries  preserved  their 
conscience  pure  and  innocent  of  the  guilt  of  secret 
conspiracy  or  open  rebellion.  While  they  experienced 
the  rigour  of  persecution,  they  were  never  provoked 
either  to  meet  their  tyrants  in  the  field  or  indignantly  to 
withdraw  themselves  into  some  remote  and  sequestered 
corner  of  the  globe.  The  Protestants  of  France,  of 
Germany,  and  of  Britain,  who  asserted  with  such 
intrepid  courage  their  civil  and  religious  freedom, 
have  been  insulted  by  the  invidious  comparison  be- 
tween the  conduct  of  the  primitive  and  of  the  reformed 
Christians.  Perhaps,  instead  of  censure,  some  applause 
may  be  due  to  the  superior  sense  and  spirit  of  our 
ancestors,  who  had  convinced  themselves  that  religion 
cannot  abolish  the  unalienable  rights  of  human  nature. 
Perhaps  the  patience  of  the  primitive  church  may  be 
ascribed  to  its  weakness,  as  well  as  to  its  virtue.  A 
sect  of  unwarlike  plebeians,  without  leaders,  without 
arms,  without  fortifications,  must  have  encountered 
inevitable  destruction  in  a  rash  and  fruitless  resistance 
to  the  master  of  the  Roman  legions.  But  the  Chris- 
tians, when  they  deprecated  the  wrath  of  Diocletian, 
or  solicited  the  favour  of  Constantine,  could  allege, 
with  truth  and  confidence,  that  they  held  the  principle 
of  passive  obedience,  and  that,  in  the  space  of  three 
centuries,  their  conduct  had  always  been  conformable 
to  their  principles.  They  might  add  that  the  throne 
of  the  emperors  would  be  established  on  a  fixed  and 
permanent  basis,  if  all  their  subjects,  embracing  the 
Christian  doctrine,  should  learn  to  suffer  and  to  obey. 
In  the  general  order  of  Providence,  princes  and 
tyrants  are  considered  as  the  ministers  of  Heaven, 
appointed  to  rule  or  to  chastise  the  nations  of  the 
earth.      But   sacred   history   affords   many    illustrious 


336  THE  DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

examples  of  the  more  immediate  interposition  of  the 
Deity  in  the  g-overnment  of  his  chosen  people.  The 
sceptre  and  the  sword  were  committed  to  the  hands 
of  Moses,  of  Joshua,  of  Gideon,  of  David,  of  the 
Maccabees  ;  the  virtues  of  those  heroes  were  the  motive 
or  the  effect  of  the  divine  favour,  the  success  of  their 
arms  was  destined  to  achieve  the  deliverance  or  the 
triumph  of  the  church.  If  the  judges  of  Israel  were 
occasional  and  temporary  magistrates,  the  kings. of 
Judah  derived  from  the  royal  unction  of  their  great 
ancestor  an  hereditary  and  indefeasible  right,  which 
could  not  be  forfeited  by  their  own  vices,  nor  recalled 
by  the  caprice  of  their  subjects.  The  same  extra- 
ordinary providence,  which  was  no  longer  confined  to 
the  Jewish  people,  might  elect  Constantino  and  his 
family  as  the  protectors  of  the  Christian  world  ;  and 
the  devout  Lactantius  announces,  in  a  prophetic  tone, 
the  future  glories  of  his  long  and  universal  reign. ^^ 
Galerius  and  Maxim  in,  Maxentius  and  Licinius,  were 
the  rivals  who  shared  with  the  favourite  of  Heaven  the 
provinces  of  the  empire.  The  tragic  deaths  of  Galerius 
and  Maximin  soon  gratified  the  resentment,  and  ful- 
filled the  sanguine  expectations  of  the  Christians. 
Tlie  success  of  Constantine  against  Maxentius  and 
Licinius  removed  the  two  formidable  competitors  who 
still  opposed  the  triumph  of  the  second  David,  and  his 
cause  might  seem  to  claim  the  peculiar  interposition 
of  Providence.  The  character  of  the  Roman  tyrant 
disgraced  the  purple  and  human  nature  ;  and,  though 
the  Christians  might  enjoy  his  precarious  favour,  they 
were  exposed,  with  the  rest  of  his  subjects,  to  the 
effects  of  his  wanton  and  capricious  cruelty.  The 
conduct  of  Licinius  soon  betrayed  the  reluctance  with 
which  he  had  consented  to  the  wise  and  humane  regu- 
lations of  the  edict  of  Milan.  The  convocation  of 
provincial  synods  was  prohibited  in  his  dominions  ;  his 
Chnstian  officers  were  ignominiously  dismissed  ;  and, 

u  Eusebius,  in  the  course  of  his  history,  his  life,  and  his 
oration,  repeatedly  inculcates  the  divine  right  of  Constantine  to 
the  empire. 


I 


324  OF  THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE  337 

if  he  avoided  tie  guilt,  or  rather  danger,  of  a  general 
persecution,  his  partial  oppressions  were  rendered  still 
more  odious  by  the  violation  of  a  solemn  and  voluntary 
engagement.  While  the  East,  according  to  the  lively 
expression  of  Eusebius,  was  involved  in  the  shades  of 
infernal  darkness,  the  auspicious  rays  of  celestial  light 
warmed  and  illuminated  the  provinces  of  the  West. 
The  piety  of  Constautine  was  admitted  as  an  unex- 
ceptionable proof  of  the  justice  of  his  arms  ;  and  his 
use  of  victory  contirmed  the  opinion  of  the  Christians, 
that  their  hero  was  inspired,  and  conducted  by  the 
Lord  of  Hosts.  The  conquest  of  Italy  produced  a 
general  edict  of  toleration  :  and,  as  soon  as  the  defeat 
of  Licinius  had  invested  Constantine  with  the  sole 
dominion  of  the  Roman  world,  he  immediately,  by 
circular  letters,  exhorted  all  his  subjects  to  imitate, 
without  delay,  the  example  of  their  sovereign,  and  to 
embrace  the  divine  truth  of  Christianity. 

The  assurance  that  the  elevation  of  Constantine  was 
intimately  connected  with  the  designs  of  Providence 
instilled  into  the  minds  of  the  Christians  two  opinions, 
which,  by  very  different  means,  assisted  the  accomplish- 
ment of  the  prophecy.  Their  warm  and  active  loyalty 
exhausted  in  his  favour  every  resource  of  human 
industry ;  and  they  confidently  expected  that  their 
strenuous  efforts  would  be  seconded  by  some  divine 
and  miraculous  aid.  The  enemies  of  Constantine  have 
imputed  to  interested  motives  the  alliance  which  he 
insensibly  contracted  with  the  Catholic  church,  and 
which  apparently  contributed  to  the  success  of  his 
ambition.  In  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century, 
the  Christians  still  bore  a  very  inadequate  proportion 
to  the  inhabitants  of  the  empire  ;  but  among  a  de- 
generate people,  who  viewed  the  change  of  masters 
with  the  indifference  of  slaves,  the  spirit  and  union  of 
a  religious  party  might  assist  the  popular  leader  to 
whose  service,  from  a  principle  of  conscience,  they  had 
devoted  their  lives  and   fortunes. ^2     xhe  example  of 

12  In  the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  the  Papists  of  Eng- 
land were  only  a  thirtieth,  and  the  Protestants  of  France  only 


338  THE   DECLINE  AND   FALL 

his  father  had  instructed  Constantine  to  esteem  and 
to  reward  the  merit  of  the  Christians  ;  and  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  public  offices_,  he  had  the  advantage  of 
strengthening  his  government,  by  the  choice  of  ministers 
or  generals  in  whose  fidelity  he  could  repose  a  just 
and  unreserved  confidence.  By  the  influence  of  these 
dignified  missionaries,  the  proselytes  of  the  new  faith 
must  have  multiplied  in  the  court  and  army ;  the 
Barbarians  of  Germany,  who  filled  the  ranks  of  the 
legions,  were  of  a  careless  temper,  which  acquiesced 
without  I'esistance  in  the  religion  of  their  commander  ; 
and,  when  they  passed  the  Alps,  it  may  fairly  be  pre- 
sumed that  a  great  number  of  the  soldiers  had  already 
consecrated  their  swords  to  the  service  of  Christ  and 
of  Constantine.^^  The  habits  of  mankind,  and  the 
interest  of  religion,  gradually  abated  the  horror  of  war 
and  bloodshed,  which  had  so  long  prevailed  among  the 
Christians  ;  and,  in  the  councils  which  were  assembled 
under  the  gracious  protection  of  Constantine,  the 
authority  of  the  bishops  was  seasonably  employed  to 
ratify  the  obligation  of  the  military  oath,  and  to  inflict 
the  penalty  of  excommunication  on  those  soldiers  who 
tlirew  away  their  arms  during  the  peace  of  the  church. 
While  Constantine,  in  his  own  dominions,  increased 
the  number  and  zeal  of  his  faithful  adherents,  he  could 
depend  on  the  support  of  a  powerful  faction  in  those 
provinces  which  were  still  possessed  or  usurped  by  his 
rivals.  A  secret  disafl"ection  was  diff"used  among  the 
Christian  subjects  of  Maxentius  and  Licinius  ;  and  the 
resentment  which  the  latter  did  not  attempt  to  conceal 
served  only  to  engage  them  still  more  deeply  in  the 
interest  of  his  competitor.  The  regular  correspond- 
ence which  connected  the  bishops  of  the  most  distant 
provinces  enabled  them  freely  to  communicate  their 

a  fifteenth,  part  of  the  respective  nations,  to  whom  their  spirit 
and  power  were  a  constant  object  of  apprehension. 

13  This  careless  temper  of  the  Germans  appears  almost 
uniformly  in  the  history  of  the  conversion  of  each  of  the  tribes. 
The  legions  of  Constantine  were  recruited  with  Germans  ;  and 
the  court  even  of  his  father  had  been  filled  with  Christians. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  339 

wishes  and  their  designs,  and  to  transmit  without 
danger  any  useful  intelligence,  or  any  pious  contri- 
butions, which  might  promote  the  service  of  Constan- 
tine,  who  publicly  declared  that  he  had  taken  up  arms 
for  the  deliverance  of  the  church.^'* 

The  enthusiasm  which  inspired  the  troops,  and 
perhaps  the  emperor  himself,  had  sharpened  their 
swords,  while  it  satisfied  their  conscience.  They 
marched  to  battle  with  the  full  assurance  that  the 
same  God,  who  had  formerly  opened  a  passage  to  the 
Israelites  through  the  waters  of  Jordan,  and  had 
tlirown  down  the  walls  of  Jericho  at  the  sound  of  the 
trumpets  of  Joshua,  would  display  his  visible  majesty 
and  power  in  the  victory  of  Constantine.  The  evidence 
of  ecclesiastical  history  is  prepared  to  affirm  that  their 
expectations  were  justified  by  the  conspicuous  miracle 
to  which  the  conversion  of  the  first  Christian  emperor  has 
been  almost  unanimously  ascribed.  Tlie  real  or  imaginary 
cause  of  so  impoi-tant  an  event  deserves  and  demands 
the  attention  of  posterity  ;  and  I  shall  endeavour  to 
form  a  just  estimate  of  the  famous  vision  of  Constantine, 
by  a  distinct  consideration  of  the  standard,  the  dream, 
and  the  celestial  sign ;  by  separating  the  historical,  the 
natural,  and  the  marvellous  parts  of  this  extraordinary 
story,  which,  in  the  composition  of  a  specious  argument, 
liave  been  artfully  confounded  in  one  splendid  and 
brittle  mass. 

I.  An  instrument  of  the  tortures  which  were  inflicted 
only  on  slaves  and  strangers  became  an  object  of 
horror  in  the  eyes  of  a  Roman  citizen  ;  and  the  ideas 
of  guilt,  of  pain,  and  of  ignominy  were  closely  united 
with  the  idea  of  the  cross.  ^^     The  piety  rather  than 

!■*  Eusebius  always  considers  the  second  civil  war  against 
Licinius  as  a  sort  of  religious  crusade.  At  the  invitation  of  the 
tyrant,  some  Christian  officers  had  resumed  their  zones  ;  or,  in 
other  words,  had  returned  to  the  military  service.  Their  con- 
duct was  afterwards  censured  by  the  12th  canon  of  the  Council 
of  Nice  ;  if  this  particular  application  may  be  received,  instead  of 
the  loose  and  general  sense  of  the  Greek  interpreters,  Balsamon, 
Zonaras,  and  Alexis  Aristenus. 

^5  The  Christian  writers,  Justin,  Minucius  Felix,  TertulUan, 


340  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

the  humanity  of  Constantine  soon  abolished  in  his 
dominions  the  punishment  which  the  Saviour  of  man- 
kind had  condescended  to  suffer  ;  ^^  but  the  emperor 
had  already  learned  to  despise  the  prejudices  of  his 
education,  and  of  his  people,  before  he  could  erect 
in  the  midst  of  Rome  his  own  statue,  bearing  a  cross 
in  its  right  hand,  with  an  inscription  which  referred 
the  victory  of  his  arms,  and  the  deliverance  of  Rome, 
to  the  virtue  of  that  salutary  sign,  the  true  symbol 
of  force  and  courage.  ^^  The  same  symbol  sanctified 
the  arms  of  the  soldiers  of  Constantine  ;  the  cross 
glittered  on  their  helmets,  was  engraved  on  their 
shields,  was  interwoven  into  tlieir  banners  ;  and  the 
consecrated  emblems  which  adorned  the  person  of  the 
emperor  himself  were  distinguished  only  by  richer 
materials  and  more  exquisite  workmanship.  But  the 
principal  standard  which  displayed  the  triumph  of  the 
cross  was  styled  the  Labarum,^^  an  obscure  though 
celebrated  name,  which  has  been  vainly  derived  from 
almost  all  the  languages  of  the  world.  It  is  described 
as  a  long  pike  intersected  by  a  transversal  beam.  The 
silken    veil   which    hung    down   from   the   beam    was 

Jerora,  and  Maximus  of  Turin,  have  investigated  with  tolerable 
success  the  figure  or  likeness  of  a  cross  in  almost  every  object 
of  nature  or  art ;  in  the  intersection  of  the  meridian  and  equator, 
the  human  face,  a  bird  flying,  a  man  swimming,  a  mast  and 
yard,  a  plough,  a  standard,  &c.  &c.  &c. 

16  See  Aurelius  Victor,  who  considers  this  law  as  one  of  the 
examples  of  Constantine's  piety.  An  edict  so  honourable  to 
Christianity  deserved  a  place  in  the  Theodosian  Code,  instead 
of  the  indirect  mention  of  it,  which  seems  to  result  from  the 
comparison  of  the  vth  and  xviiith  titles  of  the  ixth  book. 

17  The  statue,  or  at  least  the  cross  and  inscription,  may  be 
ascribed  with  more  probability  to  the  second,  or  even  the  third, 
visit  of  Constantine  to  Rome.  Immediately  after  the  defeat  of 
Maxentius,  the  minds  of  the  senate  and  people  were  scarcely 
ripe  for  this  public  monument. 

1*^  The  derivation  and  meaning  of  the  word  Labarum  or 
Laborum,  which  is  employed  by  Gregory  Nazianzen,  Ambrose, 
Prudentius,  &c.  still  remain  totally  unknown  ;  in  spite  of  the 
efforts  of  the  critics,  who  have  ineffectually  tortured  the  Latin, 
Greek,  Spanish,  Celtic,  Teutonic,  lUyric,  Armenian,  &c,  in  search 
of  an  etymology. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  341 

curiously  enwrought  with  the  images  of  the  reign- 
ing monarch  and  his  children.  The  summit  of  the 
pike  supported  a  crown  of  gold  which  inclosed  the 
mysterious  monogram,  at  once  expressive  of  the  figure 
of  the  cross  and  the  initial  letters  of  the  name  of 
Christ.^^  The  safety  of  the  labarum  was  entrusted 
to  fifty  guards,  of  approved  valour  and  fidelity  ;  their 
station  was  marked  by  honours  and  emoluments  ;  and 
some  fortunate  accidents  soon  introduced  an  opinion 
that,  as  long  as  the  guards  of  the  labarum  were 
engaged  in  the  execution  of  their  office,  they  were 
secure  and  invulnerable  amidst  the  darts  of  the  enemy. 
In  the  second  civil  war  Licinius  felt  and  dreaded  the 
power  of  this  consecrated  banner,  the  sight  of  which, 
in  the  distress  of  battle,  animated  the  soldiers  of 
Constantine  with  an  invincible  enthusiasm,  and  scat- 
tered terror  and  dismay  through  the  ranks  of  the 
adverse  legions.-'^  The  Christian  emperors,  who  re- 
spected the  example  of  Constantine,  displayed  in  aU 
their  military  expeditions  the  standard  of  the  cross  ; 
but,  when  the  degenerate  successors  of  Theodosius 
had  ceased  to  appear  in  person  at  the  head  of  their 
armies,  the  labarum  was  deposited  as  a  venerable  but 
useless  relic  in  the  palace  of  Constantinople. ^^  Its 
honours   are    still    preserved    on   the   medals   of  the 

19  Cuper  (ad.  M.  P.  in  edit.  Lactam,  torn,  ii.  p.  500)  and 
Baronius  (a.d.  312,  No.  25)  have  engraved  from  ancient 
monuments  several  specimens  (as  thus  ^  or  <B  )  of  these 
monograms,  which  became  extremely  fashionable  in  the  Chris- 
tian world. 

20  He  introduces  the  Labarum  before  "the  Italian  expedition ; 
but  his  narrative  seems  to  indicate  that  it  was  never  shown  at 
the  head  of  an  army,  till  Constantine,  above  ten  years  after- 
wards, declared  himself  the  enemy  of  Licinius  and  the  deliverer 
of  the  church. 

21  Theophanes  lived  towards  the  end  of  the  eighth  century, 
almost  five  hundred  years  after  Constantine.  The  modern 
Greeks  were  not  inclined  to  display  in  the  field  the  standard  of 
the  empire  and  of  Christianity ;  and,  though  they  depended  on 
every  superstitious  hope  of  defence,  the  promise  of  victory  would 
have  appeared  too  bold  a  fiction. 


342  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

Flavian  family.  Their  grateful  devotion  has  placed 
the  monogram  of  Christ  in  the  midst  of  the  ensigns 
of  Rome.  The  solemn  epithets  of,  safety  of  the  re- 
public, glory  of  the  army,  restoration  of  public  happi- 
ness, are  equally  applied  to  the  religious  and  military 
trophies ;  and  there  is  still  extant  a  medal  of  the 
emperor  Constantius,  where  the  standard  of  the 
labarum  is  accompanied  with  these  memorable  words, 
By  this  sign  thou  shalt  conquer. 

IL  In  all  occasions  of  danger  or  distress,  it  was  the 
practice  of  the  primitive  Christians  to  fortify  their 
minds  and  bodies  by  the  sign  of  the  cross,  which  they 
used,  in  all  their  ecclesiastical  rites,  in  all  the  daily 
occurrences  of  life,  as  an  infallible  preservative  against 
every  species  of  spiritual  or  temporal  evil.^^  'j^g 
authority  of  the  church  might  alone  have  had  suf- 
ficient weight  to  justify  the  devotion  of  Constantine, 
who,  in  the  same  prudent  and  gradual  progress, 
acknowledged  the  truth,  and  assumed  the  symbol,  of 
Christianity.  But  the  testimony  of  a  contemporary 
writer,  who  in  a  former  treatise  has  avenged  the  cause 
of  religion,  bestows  on  the  piety  of  the  emperor  a 
more  awful  and  sublime  character.  He  affirms,  with 
the  most  perfect  confidence,  that,  in  the  night  which 
preceded  the  last  battle  against  Maxentius,  Constantine 
was  admonished  in  a  dream  to  inscribe  the  shields  of 
his  soldiers  with  the  celestial  sign  of  God,  the  sacred 
monogram  of  the  name  of  Christ ;  that  he  executed 
the  commands  of  heaven ;  and  that  his  valour  and 
obedience  were  rewarded  by  the  decisive  victory 
of  the  Milvian  Bridge.  Some  considerations  might 
perhaps  incline  a  sceptical  mind  to  suspect  the  judg- 
ment or  the  veracity  of  the  rhetorician,  whose  pen. 
either  from  zeal  or  interest,  was  devoted  to  the  cause 
of  the  prevailing  faction.-^     He  appears  to  have  pub- 

22  The  learned  Jesuit  Petavius  (Dogmata  Theolog.  1.  xv, 
c.  9,  lo)  has  collected  many  similar  passages  on  the  virtues  of 
the  cross,  which  in  the  last  age  embarrassed  our  Protestant 
disputants. 

23  It  is  certain  that  this  historical  declamation  was  composed 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  343 

lished  his  deaths  of  the  persecutors  at  Nicomedia 
about  three  years  after  the  Roman  victory ;  but  the 
interval  of  a  thousand  miles^  and  a  thousand  days, 
will  allow  an  ample  latitude  for  the  invention  of 
declaimers,  the  credulity  of  party,  and  the  tacit  appro- 
bation of  the  emperor  himself;  who  might  listen 
without  indignation  to  a  marvellous  tale,  which 
exalted  his  fame  and  promoted  his  designs.  In  favour 
of  Licinius,  who  still  dissembled  his  animosity  to  the 
Christians,  the  same  author  has  provided  a  similar 
vision,  of  a  form  of  prayer,  which  was  communicated 
by  an  angel,  and  repeated  by  the  whole  army  before 
they  engaged  the  legions  of  the  tyrant  Maximin. 
The  frequent  repetition  of  miracles  serves  to  provoke, 
where  it  does  not  subdue,  the  reason  of  mankind ;  2* 
but,  if  the  dream  of  Constantine  is  separately  con- 
sidered, it  may  be  naturally  explained  either  by  the 
policy  or  the  enthusiasm  of  the  emperor.  Whilst  his 
anxiety  for  the  approaching  day,  which  must  decide 
the  fate  of  the  empire,  v.as  suspended  by  a  short  and 
interrupted  slumber,  the  venerable  form  of  Christ, 
and  the  well-known  symbol  of  his  religion,  might 
forcibly  offer  themselves  to  the  active  fancy  of  a  prince 
who  reverenced  the  name,  and  had  perhaps  secretly 
implored  the  power,   of  the  God  of  the  Christians. 

and  published  while  Licinius,  sovereign  of  the  East,  still  pre- 
served the  friendship  of  Constantine  and  of  the  Christians. 
Every  reader  of  taste  must  perceive  that  the  style  is  of  a  very 
different  and  inferior  character  to  that  of  Lactantius  ;  and  such 
indeed  is  the  judgment  of  Le  Clerc  and  Lardner.  Three  argu- 
ments from  the  title  of  the  book,  and  from  the  names  of  Donatus 
and  Caecilius,  are  produced  by  the  advocates  for  Lactantius. 
Each  of  these  proofs  is  singly  weak  and  defective  ;  but  their 
concurrence  has  great  weight.  I  have  often  fluctuated,  and 
shall  tamely  follow  the  Colbert  MS.  in  calling  the  author  (who- 
ever he  was)  Cascilius. 

24  There  seems  to  be  some  reason  in  the  observation  of  M. 
de  Voltaire  (Oeuvres,  t.  xiv.  p.  307),  wh^  ascribes  to  the  success 
of  Constantine  the  superior  fame  of  his  Labarum  above  the 
angel  of  Licinius.  Yet  even  this  angel  is  favourably  entertained 
by  Pagi,  Tillemont,  Fleury,  &c.  who  are  fond  of  increasing  their 
stock  of  miracles. 


344  THE   DECLINE  AND   FALL 

As  readily  might  a  consummate  statesman  indulge 
himself  in  the  use  of  one  of  those  military  stratagems, 
one  of  those  pious  frauds,  which  Philip  and  Sertorius 
had  employed  with  such  art  and  effect. ^^  The  praeter- 
natural  origin  of  dreams  was  universally  admitted  by 
the  nations  of  antiquity,  and  a  considerable  part  of 
the  Gallic  army  was  already  prepared  to  place  their 
confidence  in  the  salutary  sign  of  the  Christian  religion. 
The  secret  vision  of  Constantine  could  be  disproved 
only  by  the  event ;  and  the  intrepid  hero  who  had 
passed  the  Alps  and  the  Apennine  might  view  with 
careless  despair  the  consequences  of  a  defeat  under 
the  walls  of  Rome.  The  senate  and  people,  exulting 
in  their  own  deliverance  from  an  odious  tyrant, 
acknowledged  that  the  victory  of  Constantine  sur- 
passed the  powers  of  man,  without  daring  to  insinuate 
that  it  had  been  obtained  by  the  protection  of  the 
Gods.  The  triumphal  arch  which  was  erected  about 
three  years  after  the  event  proclaims,  in  ambiguous 
language,  that,  by  the  greatness  of  his  own  mind  and 
by  an  instinct  or  impulse  of  the  Divinity,  he  had  saved 
and  avenged  the  Roman  republic.  The  Pagan  orator, 
who  had  seized  an  earlier  opportunity  of  celebrating 
the  virtues  of  the  conqueror,  supposes  that  he  alone 
enjoyed  a  secret  and  intimate  commerce  with  the 
Supreme  Being,  who  delegated  the  care  of  mortals 
to  his  subordinate  deities ;  and  thus  assigns  a  very 
plausible  reason  why  the  subjects  of  Constantine  should 
not  presume  to  embrace  the  new  religion  of  their 
sovereign. 

25  Besides  these  well-known  examples,  ToUius  (Preface  to 
Boileau's  translation  of  Longinus)  has  discovered  a  vision  of 
Antigonus,  who  assured  his  troops  that  he  had  seen  a  pentagon 
(the  symbol  of  safety)  with  these  words,  "  In  this  conquer." 
But  Tollius  has  most  inexcusably  omitted  to  produce  his  autho- 
rity ;  and  his  own  character,  literary  as  well  as  moral,  is  not  free 
from  reproach.  Without  insisting  on  the  silence  of  Diodorus, 
Plutarch,  Justin,  &c.  it  may  be  observed  that  Polyaenus,  who  in 
a  separate  chapter  (1.  iv.  c.  6)  has  collected  nineteen  military 
stratagems  of  Antigonus,  is  totally  ignorant  of  this  remarkable 
vision. 


OF   THE    ROMAN   EMPIRE  345 

III.  The  philosopher,  who  with  calm  suspicion  ex- 
amines the  dreams  and  omens,  the  miracles  and  pro- 
digies, or  profane  or  even  of  ecclesiastical  history,  will 
probably  conclude  that,  if  the  eyes  of  the  spectators 
have  sometimes  been  deceived  by  fraud,  the  under- 
standing of  the  readers  has  much  more  frequently  been 
insulted  by  fiction.  Every  event,  or  appearance,  or 
accident,  which  seems  to  deviate  from  the  ordinary 
course  of  nature,  has  been  rashly  ascribed  to  the  im- 
mediate action  of  the  Deity  ;  and  the  astonished  fancy 
of  the  multitude  has  sometimes  given  shape  and  colour, 
language  and  motion,  to  the  fleeting  but  uncommon 
meteors  of  the  air.  Nazarius  and  Eusebius  are  the 
two  most  celebrated  orators  who,  in  studied  panegyrics, 
have  laboured  to  exalt  the  glory  of  Constantino.  Nine 
years  after  the  Roman  victory,  Nazarius  -^  describes 
an  army  of  divine  warriors,  who  seemed  to  faU 
from  the  sky  :  he  marks  their  beauty,  their  spirit, 
their  gigantic  forms,  the  stream  of  light  which  beamed 
from  their  celestial  armour,  their  patience  in  suffering 
themselves  to  be  heard,  as  well  as  seen,  by  mortals  ; 
and  their  declaration  that  they  were  sent,  that  they 
flew,  to  the  assistance  of  the  great  Constantiue.  For 
the  truth  of  this  prodigy,  the  Pagan  orator  appeals  to 
the  whole  Gallic  nation,  in  whose  presence  he  was  then 
speaking  ;  and  seems  to  hope  that  the  ancient  appari- 
tions ^^  would  now  obtain  credit  from  this  recent  and 
public  event.  The  Christian  fable  of  Eusebius,  which 
in  the  space  of  twenty-six  years  might  arise  from  the 
original  dream,  is  cast  in  a  much  more  correct  and 
elegant  mould.  In  one  of  the  marches  of  Constantine, 
he  is  reported  to  have  seen  with  his  own  eyes  the 
luminous  trophy  of  the  cross,  placed  above  the  meri- 
dian sun,  and  inscribed  with  the  following  words  :  By 

26  It  is  unnecessary  to  name  the  moderns,  whose  undistin- 
guishing  and  ravenous  appetite  has  swallowed  even  the  Pagan 
bait  of  Nazarius. 

27  The  apparitions  of  Castor  and  Pollux,  particularly  to 
announce  the  Macedonian  victory,  are  attested  by  historians 
and  public  monuments. 


346  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL  a.d. 

THIS  CONQUER,  This  amazing  object  in  the  sky  aston- 
ished the  whole  army,  as  well  as  the  emperor  himself, 
who  was  yet  undetermined  in  the  choice  of  a  religion  ; 
but  his  astonishment  was  converted  into  faith  by  the 
vision  of  the  ensuing  night.  Christ  appeared  before 
his  eyes  ;  and,  displaying  the  same  celestial  sign  of  the 
cross,  he  directed  Constantine  to  frame  a  similar 
standard,  and  to  march,  with  an  assurance  of  victory, 
against  Maxentius  and  all  his  enemies. ^8  The  learned 
bishop  of  Cjfisarea  appears  to  be  sensible  that  the  re- 
cent discovery  of  this  marvellous  anecdote  would  excite 
some  surprise  and  distrust  among  the  most  pious  of  his 
readers.  Yet  instead  of  ascertaining  the  precise  cir- 
cumstances of  time  and  place,  which  always  serve  to 
detect  falsehood  or  establish  truth  ;  ^  instead  of  col- 
lecting and  recording  the  evidence  of  so  many  living 
witnesses,  who  must  have  been  spectators  of  this  stu- 
pendous miracle  ;  ^^  Eusebius  contents  himself  with 
alleging  a  very  singular  testimony  ;  that  of  the  de- 
ceased Constantine,  who,  many  years  after  the  event, 
in  the  freedom  of  conversation,  had  related  to  him  this 
extraordinary  incident  of  his  own  life,  and  had  attested 
the  truth  of  it  by  a  solemn  oath.  The  prudence  and 
gratitude  of  the  learned  prelate  forbade  him  to  suspect 
the  veracity  of  his  victorious  master  ;  but  he  plainly 
intimates  that,  in  a  fact  of  such  a  nature,  he  should 
have  refused  his  assent  to  any  meaner  authority.  This 
motive  of  credibility  could  not  survive  the  power  of 
the  Flavian  family  ;  and  the  celestial  sign,  which  the 
Infidels  might  afterwards  deride,  was  disregarded  by  the 
Christians  of  the  age  which  immediately  followed  the 

28  The  silence  of  the  same  Eusebius,  in  his  Ecclesiastical 
History,  is  deeply  felt  by  those  advocates  for  the  miracle  who 
are  not  absolutely  callous. 

'^  The  narrative  of  Constantine  seems  to  indicate  that  he 
saw  the  cross  in  the  sky  before  he  passed  the  Alps  against 
Maxentius.  The  scene  has  been  fixed  by  provincial  vanity  at 
Treves,  Besan9on,  &c. 

30  The  pious  Tillemont  rejects  with  a  sigh  the  useful  Acts  of 
Artemius,  a  veteran  and  a  martyr,  who  attests  as  an  eye-witness 
the  vision  of  Constantine. 


838  OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  347 

conversion  of  Constantine.^^  But  the  Catholic  Church, 
both  of  the  East  and  of  the  West,  has  adopted  a  pro- 
digy, which  favours,  or  seems  to  favour,  the  popular 
worship  of  the  cross.  The  vision  of  Constantine  main- 
tained an  honourable  place  in  the  legend  of  super- 
stition, till  the  bold  and  sagacious  spirit  of  criticism 
presumed  to  depreciate  the  triumph,  and  to  arraign 
the  truth  of  the  first  Christian  emperor.  ^^^ 

The  protestant  and  philosophic  readers  of  the 
present  age  will  incline  to  believe  that,  in  the  account 
of  his  own  conversion  Constantine  attested  a  wilful 
falsehood  by  a  solemn  and  deliberate  perjury.  They 
may  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  that,  in  the  choice  of  a 
religion,  his  mind  was  determined  only  by  a  sense  of 
interest ;  and  that  (according  to  the  expression  of  a 
profane  poet)  he  used  the  altars  of  the  church  as  a 
convenient  footstool  to  the  throne  of  the  empire.  A 
conclusion  so  harsh  and  so  absolute  is  not,  however, 
warranted  by  our  knowledge  of  human  nature,  of 
Constantine,  or  of  Christianity.  In  an  age  of  religious 
fervour,  the  most  artful  statesmen  are  observed  to  feel 
some  part  of  the  enthusiasm  which  they  inspire  ;  and 
the  most  orthodox  saints  assume  the  dangerous  privi- 
lege of  defending  the  cause  of  truth  by  the  arms  of 

31  The  advocates  for  the  vision  are  unable  to  produce  a  single 
testimony  from  the  Fathers  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries, 
who,  in  their  voluminous  writings,  repeatedly  celebrate  the 
triumph  of  the  church  and  of  Constantine.  As  these  venerable 
men  had  not  any  dislike  to  a  miracle,  we  may  suspect  (and  the 
suspicion  is  confirmed  by  the  ignorance  of  Jerom)  that  they 
were  all  unacquainted  with  the  life  of  Constantine  by  Eusebius. 
This  tract  was  recovered  by  the  diligence  of  those  who  trans- 
lated or  continued  his  Ecclesiastical  History,  and  who  have 
represented  in  various  colours  the  vision  of  the  cross. 

32  Godefroy  was  the  first  who,  in  the  year  1643,  expressed  any 
doubt  of  a  miracle  which  had  been  supported  with  equal  zeal  by 
Cardinal  Baronius  and  the  Centuriators  of  Magdeburg.  Since 
that  time,  many  of  the  Protestant  critics  have  inclined  towards 
doubt  and  disbelief.  The  objections  are  urged,  with  great 
force,  by  M,  Chauffepid,  and,  in  the  year  1774,  a  doctor  of 
Sorbonne,  the  Abbd  du  Voisin,  published  an  Apology,  which 
deserves  the  praise  of  learning  and  moderation. 


348  THE   DECLINE   AND  FALL 

deceit  and  falsehood.  Personal  interest  is  often  the 
standard  of  our  belief,  as  well  as  of  our  practice  ;  and 
the  same  motives  of  temporal  advantage  which  might 
influence  the  public  conduct  and  professions  of  Con- 
stautine  would  insensibly  dispose  his  mind  to  embrace 
a  religion  so  propitious  to  his  fame  and  fortune.  His 
vanity  was  gratified  by  the  flattering  assurance  that  he 
had  been  chosen  by  Heaven  to  reign  over  the  earth  ; 
success  had  justified  his  divine  title  to  the  throne,,  and 
that  title  was  founded  on  the  truth  of  the  Christian 
revelation.  As  real  virtue  is  sometimes  excited  by  un- 
deserved applause,  the  specious  piety  of  Constantine, 
if  at  first  it  was  only  specious,  might  gradually,  by 
the  influence  of  praise,  of  habit,  and  of  example,  be 
matured  into  serious  faith  and  fervent  devotion.  The 
bishops  and  teachers  of  the  new  sect,  whose  dress  and 
manners  had  not  qualified  them  for  the  residence  of 
a  court,  were  admitted  to  the  Imperial  table ;  they 
accompanied  the  monarch  in  his  expeditions ;  and 
the  ascendant  which  one  of  them,  an  Egyptian  or  a 
Spaniard,^^  acquired  over  his  mind  was  imputed  by  the 
Pagans  to  the  efl^ect  of  magic.  Lactantius,  who  has 
adorned  the  precepts  of  the  gospel  with  the  eloquence 
of  Cicero,^  and  Eusebius,  who  has  consecrated  the 
learning  and  philosophy  of  the  Greeks  to  the  service 
of  religion,'^  were  both  received  into  the  friendship 
and  familiarity  of  their  sovereign  :  and  those  able 
masters  of  controversy  could  patiently  watch  the  soft 
and  yielding  moments  of  persuasion,  and  dexterously 
apply  the  arguments  which  were  the  best  adapted  to 

^  This  favourite  was  probably  the  great  Osius,  bishop  of 
Cordova,  who  preferred  the  pastoral  care  of  the  whole  church 
to  the  government  of  a  particular  diocese.  His  character  is 
magnificently,  though  concisely,  expressed  by  Athanasius  (torn.  i. 
p.  703).  Osius  was  accused,  perhaps  unjustly,  of  retiring  from 
court  with  a  very  ample  fortune. 

**  The  Christianity  of  Lactantius  was  of  a  moral  rather  than 
of  a  mysterious  cast. 

35  Fabricius,  with  his  usual  diligence,  has  collected  a  list 
of  between  three  and  four  hundred  authors  quoted  in  the 
Evangelical  Preparation  of  Eusebius. 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  349 

his  character  and  understanding.  ^TTiatever  advan- 
tages might  be  derived  from  the  acquisition  of  an 
Imperial  proselyte,  he  was  distinguished  by  the  splen- 
dour of  his  purple,  rather  than  by  the  superiority  of 
wisdom  or  virtue,  from  the  many  thousands  of  his 
subjects  who  had  embraced  the  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity. Nor  can  it  be  deemed  incredible  that  the 
mind  of  an  unlettered  soldier  should  have  yielded  to 
the  weight  of  evidence,  which,  in  a  more  enlightened 
age,  has  satisfied  or  subdued  the  reason  of  a  Grotius, 
a  Pascal,  or  a  Locke.  In  the  midst  of  the  incessant 
labours  of  his  great  office,  this  soldier  employed,  or 
aifected  to  employ,  the  hours  of  the  night  in  the 
diligent  study  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  composition 
of  theological  discourses ;  which  he  afterwards  pro- 
nounced in  the  presence  of  a  numerous  and  applaud- 
ing audience.  In  a  very  long  discourse,  which  is  still 
extant,  the  royal  preacher  expatiates  on  the  various 
proofs  of  religion  ;  but  he  dwells  with  peculiar  com- 
placency on  the  Sybilline  yerses,^'^  and  the  fourth 
eclogue  of  Virgil.^"  Forty  years  before  the  birth  of 
Christ,  the  Mantuan  bard,  as  if  inspired  by  the  celes- 
tial muse  of  Isaiah,  had  celebrated,  with  all  the  pomp 
of  oriental  metaphor,  the  return  of  the  Virgin,  the  fall 
of  the  serpent,  the  approaching  birth  of  a  god-like  child, 
the  offspring  of  the  great  Jupiter,  who  should  expiate 
the  guilt  of  human  kind,  and  govern  the  peaceful  uni- 
verse with  the  virtues  of  his  father  ;  the  rise  and  appear- 
ance of  an  heavenly  race,  a  primitive  nation  throughout 
the  world  :  and  the  gradual  restoration  of  the  innocence 
and  felicity  of  the  golden  age.  The  poet  was  perhaps 
unconscious  of  the  secret  sense  and  object  of  these 
sublime  predictions,  which  have  been  so   unworthily 

36  He  chiefly  depends  on  a  mysterious  acrostic,  composed  in 
the  sixth  age  after  the  Deluge  by  the  Erythraean  Sybil,  and 
translated  by  Cicero  into  Latin.  The  initial  letters  of  the 
thirty-four  Greek  verses  form  this  prophetic  sentence  :  Jesus 
Christ,  Son  of  God,  Saviour  of  the  World. 

37  In  his  paraphrase  of  Virgil,  the  emperor  has  frequently 
assisted  and  improved  the  literal  sense  of  the  Latin  text. 


350  THE    DECLINE   AND   FALL 

applied  to  the  infant  s;ou  of  a  consul  or  a  triumvir  :^ 
but,  if  a  more  splendid,  and  indeed  specious,  interpre- 
tation of  the  fourth  eclogue  contributed  to  the  conver- 
sion of  the  first  Christian  emperor,  Virgil  may  deserve 
to  be  ranked  among  the  most  successful  missionaries 
of  the  gospel. 

Tlie  awful  mysteries  of  the  Christian  faith  and 
worship  were  concealed  from  the  eyes  of  strangers,  and 
even  of  catechumens,  with  an  affected  secrecy,  which 
served  to  excite  their  wonder  and  curiosity.  But  the 
severe  rules  of  discipline  which  the  prudence  of  the 
bishops  had  instituted  were  relaxed  by  the  same  pru- 
dence in  favour  of  an  Imperial  proselyte,  whom  it 
was  so  important  to  allure,  by  every  gentle  condescen- 
sion, into  the  pale  of  the  church  ;  and  Coustantine 
was  permitted,  at  least  by  a  tacit  dispensation,  to  enjoy 
most  of  the  privileges,  before  he  had  contracted  any  of 
the  obligations,  of  a  Christian.  Insteadiof  retiring  from 
the  congregation  when  the  voice  of  the  deacon  dis- 
missed the  profane  multitude,  he  prayed  with  the 
faithful,  disputed  with  the  bishops,  preached  on  the 
most  sublime  and  intricate  subjects  of  theology,  cele- 
brated with  sacred  rites  the  vigil  of  Easter,  and  publicly 
declared  himself,  not  only  a  partaker,  but  in  some 
measure  a  priest  and  hierophant  of  the  Christian 
mysteries.  The  pride  of  Constantine  might  assume, 
and  his  services  had  deserved,  some  extraordinary 
distinction  :  an  ill-timed  rigour  might  have  blasted  the 
unripened  fruits  of  his  conversion  ;  and,  if  the  doors  of 
the  church  had  been  strictly  closed  against  a  prince 
who  had  deserted  the  altars  of  the  gods,  the  master  of 
the  empire  would  have  been  left  destitute  of  any  form 
of  religious  worship.  In  his  last  visit  to  Rome,  he 
piously  disclaimed  and  insulted  the  superstition  of  his 
ancestors  by  refusing  to  lead  the  military  procession  of 
the  equestrian  order  and  to  offer  the  public  vows  to 
the  Jupiter  of  the  Capitoline  Hill.     Many  years  before 

38  The  different  claims  of  an  elder  and  younger  son  of  PoUio, 
of  Julia,  of  Drusus,  of  Marcellus,  are  found  to  be  incompatible 
with  chronology,  history,  and  the  good  sense  of  Virgil, 


OF  THE   ROMAN   EMPIRE  351 

his  baptism  and  death,  Constantine  had  proclaimed  to 
the  world  that  neither  his  person  nor  his  image  should 
ever  more  be  seen  within  the  walls  of  an  idolatrous 
temple  ;  while  he  distributed  through  the  provinces 
a  variety  of  medals  and  pictures,  which  represented 
the  emperor  in  an  humble  and  suppliant  posture  of 
Christian  devotion. 

The  pride  of  Constantine,  who  refused  the  privileges 
of  a  catechumen,  cannot  easily  be  explained  or  ex- 
cused ;  but  the  delay  of  his  baptism  may  be  justified 
by  the  maxims  and  the  practice  of  ecclesiastical  anti- 
quity. The  sacrament  of  baptism  ^^  was  regularly  ad- 
ministered by  the  bishop  himself,  with  his  assistant 
clergy,  in  the  cathedral  church  of  the  diocese,  during 
the  fifty  days  between  the  solemn  festivals  of  Easter 
and  Pentecost ;  and  this  holy  term  admitted  a  numerous 
band  of  infants  and  adult  persons  into  the  bosom  of 
the  church.  The  discretion  of  parents  often  suspended 
the  baptism  of  their  children  till  they  could  under- 
stand the  obligations  which  they  contracted ;  the 
severity  of  ancient  bishops  exacted  from  the  new- 
converts  a  noviciate  of  two  or  three  years  ;  and  the 
catechumens  themselves,  from  different  motives  of  a 
temporal  or  a  spiritual  nature,  were  seldom  impatient 
to  assume  the  character  of  perfect  and  initiated  Chris- 
tians. The  sacrament  of  baptism  was  supposed  to  con- 
tain a  full  and  absolute  expiation  of  sin  ;  and  the  soul 
was  instantly  restored  to  its  original  purity,  and  en- 
titled to  the  promise  of  eternal  salvation.  Among  the 
prosehi:e5  of  Christianity,  there  were  many  who  judged 
it  imprudent  to  precipitate  a  salutary  rite,  which  could 
not  be  repeated  ;  to  throw  away  an  inestimable  privi- 
lege, which  could  never  be  recovered.  By  the  delay  of 
their  baptism,  they  could  venture  freely  to  indulge  their 
passions  in  the  enjoyments  of  this  world,  while  they  still 

39  One  circumstance  may  be  observed,  in  which  the  modern 
churches  have  materially  departed  from  the  ancient  custom. 
The  sacrament  of  baptism  (even  when  it  was  administered  to 
infants)  was  immediately  followed  by  confirmation  and  the 
holv  communion. 


362  THE   DECLINE   AND   FALL 

retained  in  their  own  Lands  the  means  of  a  sure  and 
easy  absolution.'^  The  sublime  theory  of  the  gospel  had 
made  a  much  fainter  impression  on  the  heart  than  on  the 
understanding  of  Constantine  himself.  He  pursued  the 
great  object  of  his  ambition  through  the  dark  and  bloody 
paths  of  war  and  policy  ;  aiid^  after  the  victory,  he 
abandoned  himself,  without  moderation,  to  the  abuse  of 
his  fortune.  Instead  of  asserting  his  just  superiority 
above  the  imperfect  heroism  and  profane  philosophy  of 
Trajan  and  the  Antonnines,  the  mature  age  of  Con- 
stantine forfeited  the  reputation  which  he  had  acquired 
in  his  youth.  As  he  gradually  advanced  in  the  know- 
ledge of  truth,  he  proportionably  declined  in  the 
practice  of  virtue  ;  and  the  same  year  of  his  reign  in 
which  he  convened  the  council  of  Nice  was  polluted  by 
the  execution,  or  rather  murder,  of  his  eldest  son.  Tliis 
date  is  alone  sufficient  to  refute  the  ignorant  and 
malicious  suggestions  of  Zosimus,*^  who  affirms  that, 
after  the  death  of  Crispus,  the  remorse  of  his  father  ac- 
cepted from  the  ministers  of  Christianity  the  expiation 
which  he  had  vainly  solicited  from  the  Pagan  Pontiffs. 
At  the  time  of  the  death  of  Crispus,  the  emperor  could 

*o  The  fathers,  who  censured  this  criminal  delay,  could  not 
deny  the  certain  and  victorious  efficacy  even  of  a  deathbed 
baptism.  The  ingenious  rhetoric  of  Chrysostom  could  find 
only  three  arguments  against  these  prudent  Christians,  i. 
That  we  should  love  and  pursue  virtue  for  her  own  sake,  and 
not  merely  for  the  reward.  2.  That  we  may  be  surprised  by 
death  without  an  opportunity  of  baptism.  3.  That,  although 
we  shall  be  placed  in  heaven,  we  shall  only  twinkle  like  little 
stars,  when  compared  to  the  suns  of  righteousness  who  have  run 
their  appointed  course  with  labour,  with  success,  and  with 
glory.  I  believe  that  this  delay  of  baptism,  though  attended 
with  the  most  pernicious  consequences,  was  never  condemned 
by  any  general  or  provinical  council,  or  by  any  public  act  or 
declaration  of  the  church.  The  zeal  of  the  bishops  was  easily 
kindled  on  much  slighter  occasions. 

■1^  For  this  disingenuous  falsehood  he  has  deserved  and  ex- 
perienced the  harshest  treatment  from  all  the  ecclesiastical 
writers,  except  Cardinal  Baronius  (a.d.  324,  No.  15-28),  who 
had  occasion  to  employ  the  Infidel  on  a  particular  service 
against  the  Arian  Eusebius, 


OF  THE   ROxMAN  ExMPIRE  353 

no  longer  hesitate  in  the  choice  of  a  religion  ;  he  could 
no  long-er  be  ignorant  that  tlie  church  was  possessed  of 
an  infallible  remedy,  though  he  chose  to  defer  the  ap- 
plication of  it,  till  the  approach  of  death  had  removed 
the  temptation  and  danger  of  a  relapse.  The  bishops, 
whom  he  summoned  in  his  last  illness  to  the  palace  of 
Nicomedia,  were  edified  by  the  fervour  with  wliich  he 
requested  and  received  the  sacrament  of  baptism,  by 
the  solemn  protestation  that  the  remainder  of  his 
life  should  be  worthy  of  a  disciple  of  Christ,  and  by 
his  humble  refusal  to  wear  the  Imperial  purple  after  he 
had  been  clothed  in  the  white  garment  of  a  neophyte. 
Tlie  example  and  reputation  of  Constantine  seemed  to 
countenance  the  delay  of  baptism.*-  Future  tyrants 
were  encouraged  to  believe  that  the  innocent  blood 
which  they  might  shed  in  a  long  reign  would  instantly 
be  washed  away  in  the  waters  of  regeneration  ;  and  the 
abuse  of  religion  dangerously  undermined  the  founda- 
tions of  moral  virtue. 

The  gratitude  of  the  church  has  exalted  the  virtues 
and  excused  the  failings  of  a  generous  patron,  who 
seated  Christianity  on  the  throne  of  the  Roman  world  ; 
and  the  Greeks,  who  celebrate  the  festival  of  the  Im- 
perial saint,  seldom  mention  the  name  of  Constan- 
tine without  adding  the  title  oi  equal  to  the  Apostles. ^^ 
Such  a  comparison,  if  it  allude  to  the  character  of  those 
divine  missionaries,  must  be  imputed  to  the  extra- 
vagance of  impious  flattery.  But,  if  the  parallel  is 
confined  to  the  extent  and  number  of  their  evangelic 
victories,  the  success  of  Constantine  might  perhaps 
equal  that  of  the  Apostles  themselves.  By  the  edicts 
of  toleration  he  removed  the  temporal  disadvantages 
which  had  hitherto  retarded  the  progress  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  and  its  active  and  numerous  ministers  received 
a   free    permission,    a   liberal   encouragement,   to    re- 

42  The  bishop  of  Caesarea  supposes  the  salvation  of  Constan- 
tine with  the  most  perfect  confidence. 

^  The  Greeks,  the  Russians,  and,  in  the  darker  ages,  the 
Latins  themselves  have  been  desirous  of  placing  Constantine  in 
the  catalogue  of  saints. 

VOL.   11.  xc 


364  THE   DECLINE    AND   FALL  a.d 

commend  the  salutary  truths  of  revelation  by  every 
argument  which  could  affect  the  reason  or  piety  of 
mankind.  The,  exact  balance  of  the  two  religion?- 
continued  but  a  moment ;  and  the  piercing  eye  ot 
ambition  and  avarice  soon  discovered  that  the  profes- 
sion of  Christianity  might  contribute  to  the  interest  ot 
the  present,  as  well  as  of  a  future,  life.*^  The  hopes 
of  wealth  and  honours,  the  example  of  an  emperor, 
his  exhortations,  his  irresistible  smiles,  diffused  con- 
viction among  the  venal  and  obsequious  crowds  which 
usually  fill  the  apartments  of  a  palace.  The  cities 
which  signalised  a  forward  zeal  by  the  voluntary  de- 
struction of  their  temples  were  distinguished  by  muni- 
cipal privileges,  and  rewarded  with  popular  donatives  ; 
and  the  new  capital  of  the  East  gloried  in  the  singular 
advantage  that  Constantinople  was  never  profaned  by 
the  worship  of  idols. ^°  As  the  lower  ranks  of  society 
are  governed  by  imitation,  the  conversion  of  those 
who  possessed  any  eminence  of  birth,  of  power,  or  of 
riches,  was  soon  followed  by  dependent  multitudes.*^ 
The  salvation  of  the  common  people  was  purchased  at 
an  easy  rate,  if  it  be  true  that,  in  one  year  twelve 
thousand  men  were  baptized  at  Rome,  besides  a  pro- 
portionable number  of  women  and  children  ;  and  that 

**  See  the  third  and  fourth  books  of  his  hfe.  He  was  ac- 
customed to  say  that,  whether  Christ  was  preached  in  pretence 
or  in  truth,  he  should  still  rejoice. 

*5  M.  de  Tillemont  (Hist,  des  Empereurs,  torn.  iv.  p,  374, 
616)  has  defended,  with  strength  and  spirit,  the  virgin  purity 
of  Constantinople  against  some  malevolent  insinuations  of  the 
Pagan  Zosimus. 

^  The  author  of  the  Histoire  Politique  et  Philosophique  des 
deux  Indes  (tom.  i.  p.  9)  condemns  a  law  of  Constantine,  which 
gave  freedom  to  all  the  slaves  who  should  embrace  Christianity. 
The  emperor  did  indeed  publish  a  law  which  restrained  the  Jews 
from  circumcising,  perhaps  from  keeping,  any  Christian  slaves. 
But  this  imperfect  exception  related  only  to  the  Jews  ;  and 
the  great  body  of  slaves,  who  were  the  property  of  Christian 
or  Pagan  masters,  could  not  improve  their  temporal  condition 
by  changing  their  religion.  I  am  ignorant  by  what  guides  the 
Abb6  Raynal  was  deceived  ;  as  the  total  absence  of  quotations 
is  the  unpardonable  blemish  of  his  entertaining  history. 


330  OF  THE    ROMAN   EMPIRE  355 

a  white  garment,  with  twenty  pieces  of  gold,  had  been 
promised  by  the  emperor  to  every  convert.  The 
powerful  influence  of  Constantiue  was  not  circum- 
scribed by  the  narrow  limits  of  his  life_,  or  of  iiis 
dominions.  The  education  which  he  bestowed  on  his 
sons  and  nephews  secured  to  the  empire  a  race  of 
princes  whose  faith  was  still  more  lively  and  sincere, 
as  they  imbibed,  in  their  earliest